Associated Student Government presidential candidate, Qiyamah Jackson, is running a write-in campaign after being disqualified from running after her Instagram was deemed “campaigning material,” according to ASG election commissioner, Chance Vang.
Jackson started an Instagram account where she said she would be running for ASG president and would repost activities, events, and other things related to the Fresno City College campus that she found problematic.
She received an email on April 8 telling her that the Instagram account was a violation of “numerous campaigning codes,” and was asked to take it down by April 15 at 8 a.m.
“During that time we were looking into how to deactivate the whole account, so when you searched for the account nothing popped up,” Jackson said.
Vang gave Jackson a deadline, April 15, to take down the account as he saw it as a campaigning violation. According to his email, Vang checked at 8:52 a.m. and the account was still up resulting in a disqualification.
According to the Instagram Help Center, it can take up to 30 days for the profile to be deleted permanently.
“It was a misunderstanding,” Jackson said. “I don’t feel like I did anything wrong. I did everything I could do.”
All election codes and violations fall into the hands of the election commissioner.
Chance Vang declined to comment on the disqualification of Qiyamah Jackson.
Jackson has claimed that presidential candidate and current senator, David Ball, campaigned before he was allowed to by speaking at clubs and to classmates.
“From the communication that was given to me, he was campaigning way before I even had the Instagram up,” Jackson said. “It’s not fair.”
However, one club that Ball was allegedly speaking to, Harmony Minds Collective Club, and Ball himself have denied these claims.
According to Ball he would introduce himself as a senator for ASG and talk with individuals about issues going on affecting them at FCC.
“I didn’t campaign beforehand,” Ball said. “I always put myself out there so people saw me and that’s not campaigning.”
Jackson has decided to run a write-in campaign. On election day she will need a minimum of 150 signatures and more votes than the rest of the candidates to win.
Jackson wants to build a student union, develop better connections between pathways and students, and have more communicative counseling to avoid students having to repeat classes. She wants to bring something different to ASG.
“Nothing is new with ASG…I’m here for accountability. I’m going to advocate for our students and I just want to be someone who puts their foot down,” Jackson said. “Stand on business.”
ASG elections will start on April 30 until May 2 and the winners will be announced on May 3.
