Editor’s Note: Anthony Gonzalez-Medina is a reporter with The Sunflower. Gonzalez-Medina was the president elect in the 2026 HALO election. The Sunflower is dedicated to fair and equal coverage. Gonzales-Medina had no part in the reporting, writing or editing process of this story.
The Student Government Association Supreme Court voted to unanimously void the results of the 2026-27 Hispanic American Leadership Organization election.
On April 28, the Supreme Court received a Maxient form from a student running for a HALO position requesting the election results be voided due to violations that occurred throughout the election process.
The student who filed the complaint and HALO’s current president had the opportunity to request a formal hearing. However, one request was made after the required response time, and the other was withdrawn, so no hearing was held.
The court met on May 4 to review evidence, and then one week later on May 11 for an hour and 10 minutes before deciding unanimously that the election results were null.
The order stated that HALO violated several parts of its constitution including Article 8, Clause 4 and Article 7, Clause 4.
Article 8, Clause 4 states that the candidate who receives the majority of votes for each office is who will be elected. In the latest HALO election, there was a tie for presidency, so neither candidates met that requirement.
Article 7, Clause 4 requires only one office be voted on at a time, the order being decided by rank. The court’s interpretation of this means the election procedure should start with the presidential race, which was voted on last in the latest election.
Additionally, the court found that there were issues within the organization’s constitution. The latest version had multiple discrepancies with the current format of the organization, resulting in the court unanimously voting to adopt the HALO constitution that existed on Aug. 15, 2025. There were also edits made after election dates, without approval or a ⅔ majority vote.
The order, along with nullifying the election results, will require HALO to conduct its next elections under supervision of the student body president and the chief justice.
The court also voted to extend the deadline for HALO to apply for funding. The deadline for recognized student organisations to apply for funding is typically June 1, but due to the circumstances, Chief Justice Vincent Duong used GroupMe to issue the motion, which received five votes of approval.
