The Election and Rules (E&R) Committee met Sunday afternoon to deliberate on whether first-year Andrew Harrington could remain on the ballot for the Class of 2020 College Council.

Harrington violated Article I, Section 1 of the Election By-Laws, which states that candidates must attend a candidate meeting prior to the election. At the meeting on Friday, candidates were read a candidate’s packet containing rules and guidelines for the election and were assigned time-slots for tabling in Reynolds Club. 

When given a chance to explain his absence at the rules meeting, Harrington said it was intended as a protest of the student government system. 

“The way I see it there are fundamental flaws that exist within the University of Chicago. The only way to dig at them is to not have empty platitude…I’m not here because I broke procedural rules, but because I broke the status quo.” 

“I am bedeviled,” said Max Freedman, the chair of E&R. 

Harrington has been removed from the ballot for this election cycle but may still run as a write-in candidate. This is the second complaint filed with E&R for this election cycle. Another candidate was issued a warning last week after a student affiliated with his campaign vandalized an opponent’s chalkings, erasing some of them and adding text to others implying the opponent supported Donald Trump.

Ballots will be emailed to first-years on October 12 at 10 a.m. Students will be able to vote for four out of the now 18 candidates who will be on the ballot. Voting closes October 14 at 4:30 p.m.