Knight News has learned UCF Student Government Association Lobbying Coordinator Tyler Yeargain — who identifies himself as a passionate progressive on Twitter — assisted a student with filing an affidavit against conservative SGA Presidential candidate Jacob Milich.
“When I sat down in the College Democrats meeting, I noticed a couple of well dressed people behind us. I didn’t know who they were, I assumed they were guest speakers,” said a source Knight News confirmed had knowledge of the situation and who asked for anonymity.
“At some point in the meeting an official College Democrat introduced Jake and Elaine. Jake and Elaine went up and introduced themselves and said they’re running for SGA President and Vice President. They said they want to make the school better and fix stuff such as parking,” the source continued.
Knight News obtained the minutes from the College Democrats meeting on February 2nd, which show that Jake and Elaine were there.
“Jake and Elaine gave SGA pitch,” the College Democrats minutes state.
The source disbanded from the meeting, afterwards, and soon was approached by Student Government official Tyler Yeargain, the source said.
“Tyler approached me weeks after the meeting. He asked me to confirm if Jake and Elaine were at the College Democrat meeting. I said yes they were. He then asked me if they were at the meeting on February 2nd, I said yes they were,” the source said.
“Tyler then informed me that Jake and Elaine broke election rules (prohibiting campaigning before a certain date). He asked me if I would be willing to sign an affidavit to this. I did,” the source continued.
Tyler Yeargain and our source met to discuss the Jake and Elaine issue, these meetings happened multiple times before the affidavit was filed, the source said.
Knight News has covered Yeargain in the past for filing an affidavit against candidates he does not support. Last year, Yeargain attempted to get the Brian and Alex ticket thrown off the ballot because the parents of the candidates apparently bought snacks at a campaign event — before the polls were open.
Archive video of Yeargain explaining his violation report from last year’s election:
Yeargain defended his connection to the violations filed against Milich during this year’s campaign.
“I fight to ensure that Election Statues are followed by all campaigns and candidates. If I feel that the rules are not being followed, I encourage those present to report it. The filer made a decision to do so of their own accord,” Yeargain told Knight News.
After the affidavit was submitted Supervisor of Elections Whitney Barnes emailed the source. The email detailed what is required of our source.
“A violation has been brought against Jacob and Elaine by you and the hearing to determine if they are in violation will be Thursday, March 17, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. in the Election Commission office. You have until Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. to submit any and all materials that you would like examined during the violation hearing. This includes additional evidence and a complete list of witnesses you would like to have examined along with a statement summarizing what each witness will be testifying about. These materials shall be submitted to sga_ec@ucf.edu,” Whitney Barnes emailed to the source.
As a result of these allegations, Student Government held a meeting to decide whether or not Milich broke election campaign rules by campaigning before the designated campaigning time. The results of this closed door meeting were that Milich was indeed in violation of campaign rules. The result of these violations were the termination of his candidacy. This decision to end the Milich campaign was upheld when Chief Justice Taylor Scimeca denied his request for an appeal.
“SGA leadership who are black and gold affiliated has submitted a large majority of the affidavits. Those same leaders have been coordinating the efforts against my campaign,” Milich said.
Knight News cannot confirm what all the violations against Milich said and which he was found in violation of because UCF believes a privacy law protecting education records, like a student’s SAT score, applies to SGA — even though candidates voluntarily put themselves into the public light in a public campaign. UCF has declined to require SGA candidates to sign a waiver, as USF does, to ensure SGA campaigns are open to public scrutiny before students decide who deserves their vote.
Knight News filed a lawsuit against UCF to challenge the closure of the hearings and will continue to bring students complete coverage of the Student Government Presidential race and work to get to the bottom this issue, despite the closed meetings and records.
Video of Milich on Fox News alleging a partisan plot to throw him off the ballot Monday morning:
