The Missouri Students Association Senate postponed the announcement of the presidential election results Wednesday.
The postponement passed with 26 votes in affirmation, seven in negation and seven abstentions.
This is the second time the announcement of the MSA presidential election results have been postponed. The elections were originally scheduled for Nov. 9-11. MSA [announced via Twitter](https://twitter.com/MSAmizzou/status/663849534838075392) on Nov. 9 that the elections were moved to Nov. 18. Former UM System President Tim Wolfe and former Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin resigned Nov. 9.
The results will now be announced at 8:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at Traditions Plaza.
At about 10:40 p.m. Nov. 17, Senate Speaker Kevin Carr called for an [emergency senate meeting](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/11/18/senator-petitions-bec-chairwomans-impeachment-emer/) that was followed by an emergency Operations Committee meeting. The meetings questioned the legality and fairness behind Board of Elections Commissioners Chairwoman Emma Henderson’s handling of infractions by the Ejaz/Parrie and Gomez/Hanner slates.
After much debate, Campus and Community Relations chairman Alex Higginbotham presented a petition to impeach Henderson to Carr, who accepted the petition.
The next day, Higginbotham presented Act 55-18 during full Senate.
“The justices and the BEC deserve ample amount of time to make sure that they consider this and they have a ruling that is fair and just,” Higginbotham said during full Senate. “It’s not about telling the justices or the BEC what to do. That’s completely up to them. I just want to make sure they have the time to fully consider it and make sure their ruling is out before we start announcing the results.”
Higginbotham emphasized that the purpose of this act was to make sure the justices and the BEC were not rushed in making their decision, not to dictate what the decision should be.
Former Student Affairs Chairwoman and Senator Natalie Edelstein questioned as to whether this allocation of 24 extra hours would be used by the court and BEC to question the impeachment of Henderson or a re-evaluation of the fairness of Henderson’s decisions. Edelstein currently is one of the campaign managers for the Gomez/Hanner slate.
“It’s so they can handle the presidential elections,” Higginbotham said. “The chair issue will be a separate issue. This is so there is a lot of confusion right now and this is giving them the time that they need to figure out what they’re going to do.”
Under normal circumstances, acts take two Senate sessions to pass, but MSA voted to suspend the rules in order to pass this act in one session.
This delay only affects the MSA presidential elections, not the library fee announcement.
