Darsham Gonzalez and Kade Salzer of the Atlantic Party are set to lead Florida Atlantic University’s Student Government (SG) despite losing the popular vote.  

Supervisor of Elections Nick Stone threw out their opponents, Jean Luma and Ellie Raab — who won by over 500 votes — over what he feels were campaign violations. Both have accused him of favoritism and rule-bending.

The elections, held Tuesday and Wednesday, ended with Luma and Raab winning 1,670 votes (56.4% of ballots cast), compared to Gonzalez and Salzer’s 1,159 votes.

Stone disqualified Luma and Raab for handing out about 50 campaign T-shirts in FAU’s Boca Raton Student Union during a Greek Life event on Feb. 5 — a move that SG Supervisor of Elections Nick Stone said violated SG bylaws.

The supervisor of elections is responsible for overseeing post-election hearings and has the power to disqualify candidates, according to Stone.

“In none of the statutes it says that you can pass out any campaign materials in the Student Union, and they went ahead and did it without my approval,” Stone said. “They were passing out a bunch of shirts at the Greek life meeting when 75% of Greeks were supposed to be at the meeting. That makes a huge difference in an election and makes a huge difference in the results.” 

Luma countered that FAU’s SG bylaws contradict themselves. While three statutes allow campaigning in most areas of the Student Union, one prohibits distributing campaign materials in the building. 

Luma and Raab claim that fraternity connections influenced the election outcome. Stone, Gonzalez, Salzer, and current Student Body President Stefan Andjelkovic are all members of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

“It’s corruption,” said Luma, who is a member of Sigma Chi fraternity.

Andjelkovic personally appointed Stone — his fraternity brother — as elections supervisor in mid-January after Salzer stepped down from the position to run for office. 

“Nick Stone serving as supervisor of elections is an extreme conflict of interest being that he is inside the organization Pi Kappa Alpha that 75% of the Atlantic Party is also in,” said Luma. “If I was the election supervisor and my Sigma Chi brothers were running… obviously my opinion is going to be biased. It’s going to be against whoever’s running against them.”

Stone strongly rejected accusations of corruption or favoritism. 

“The Atlantic Party had much more minor violations,” Stone said. “I did what I thought was right.”

Each campaign filed violations against the other during post-election hearings. Luma and Raab submitted eight against the Atlantic Party while facing five from their opponents. 

One key violation Luma cited involved campaign finances: only one member of the Atlantic Party submitted expense forms despite bylaws requiring all party members to submit them. 

“The Atlantic Party told me they were under the assumption that only one party had to submit an expense form,” Stone said. “If Jean and Ellie did the same thing, I wasn’t going to disqualify them for an expense form as well.”

The candidates and their platforms

Luma, a junior majoring in business administration and finance, served as president of FAU’s Interfraternity Council before running for office. Raab is a sophomore criminal justice major who serves as Sigma Delta Tau sorority’s director of inclusivity. 

During his campaign, Luma emphasized initiatives to improve campus life, including expanding Greek housing and activities, providing discounted Lyft and Uber rides for students and partnering with DoorDash for cheaper food delivery. 

Gonzales is a senior in the Honors College majoring in liberal arts and science. His running mate, Salzer, is a senior finance major.

The Atlantic Party’s platform promised several free services including printing, Quizlet premium and practice exams for LSAT, MCAT, and GRE. They also campaigned for Greek housing, a free airport shuttle and Campus Rec improvements. 

Gonzalez and Salzer did not respond to requests for comment by time of publication.

Other election results

Lance Moore, another Atlantic Party member, will serve as Boca Raton campus governor after securing 48% of campus votes.

Jadyn Cooper won Jupiter’s governor seat, while Katana Soni took Broward’s position.

What’s next 

Luma and Raab have filed an appeal with the student court. According to Donald Van Pelt, the assistant vice president of student engagement, official results will not be finalized until all appeals are exhausted, with no definite timeline. He expects results to be official by the first week of April. 

“At the end of the day, we won by over 511 votes, 20% more than what Darsham and Kade received,” Luma said. 

Newly elected officials will serve from spring 2025 commencement until May 2025 commencement. 

Laurie Mermet is the News Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email lmermet2022@fau.edu or DM laurie.mmt on Instagram.