Emma DeWees

In an announcement made on March 26, James Jia, a candidate for ASB president, was removed from the ballot after it was discovered that he had violated ASB policy. Two posters had been left up after the campaign deadline, resulting in him being disqualified from the race for extended campaigning. It was later discovered that Jia, however, personally had nothing to do with the violation of this rule. The posters in question were left up by his supporters for a total of two passing periods—sixteen minutes during which students may have seen them.
Theodore Krebs, CHS senior and Jia’s primary campaign manager, recalled how Jia tried to limit postering.
“The day before, [Jia] had made a best-faith effort to get all of his posters down,” Krebs said. “We felt that although yes, DiGrazia did follow the rules letter-for-letter, he should have allowed James some leeway.”
Dylan DiGrazia, the ASB director, shared the issues that ASB had to manage with the election.
“For most of these situations, we can’t fully disclose why,” DiGrazia said. “[Jia] didn’t follow one of the specific rules we had, and that kind of occurred with all candidates. If you don’t follow the rules, we have to enforce them. What happened to be the case was that with James, we saw his [breaking of the rules] before the election.”
Upon voting, CHS voters were confused that Jia, a favorite among students of all grades, was nowhere to be found on their ballots. The election continued as normal, with candidate Jayden Garcia winning the presidency.
“I was so happy when I originally won because there were so many things that I had in mind that I wanted to change,” Garcia said. “I wanted to push for moving our homecoming and back to school dances to different locations to make them more fun and interesting. I wanted to incorporate different activities, like a beach day or a bonfire day, and then I wanted to help make accommodations for people with different religions.”
However, Jia supporters still felt slighted. Instagram activity on the subject soon exploded; group chats with names similar to Justice for Jia began to pop up, propaganda posters likening Digrazia to Big Brother from Orwell’s 1984 were reposted on stories, and some even argued that the ASB election was reflective of Russian elections. AP Language/Composition and Theory of Knowledge teacher David Chamberlain was a vocal dissenter of ASB’s decision.
“When it first came to light that a student had been removed from the ballot for an innocuous violation, it seemed like an overcorrection to a minor problem,” Chamberlain said. “The fact that there was no explanation about it, or that it happened at the very last minute; […] there should be more transparency about how and why that decision was made.”
Similarly to Garcia, transparency from ASB was something that much of the Justice for Jia campaign pushed for. One group chat in particular, True Justice for James, attempted to push the administration towards re-election by publishing a petition that garnered over 200 signatures in the span of two weeks. Their Change.org description summed up their movement’s goal.
“We feel that [Jia’s removal] is not in the spirit of a fair democratic system,” the petition reads. “Put power back in the hands of the people, put James Jia back in the race!”
It was not until weeks later, after Spring Break on Wednesday, April 18, that ASB held a re-election. Students were given from fourth period to the end of school to vote, this time with Jia on the ballot. DiGrazia shared the issues that ASB had to manage with the original election and what pushed them to re-election.
“[Other candidates breaking rules] were reported to us, and we had to look into that,” DiGrazia said. “We found that with the inconsistencies we were informed of, the best and most fair thing we could do was hold a reelection.”
Garcia felt that this decision was both sudden and unfair.
“There was a big lead-up to the first election, and then, all of the sudden, ‘oh, here’s a pop election’,” Garcia said. “And I think that’s unfair. Not just for me, but if it’s only being publicized through a Canvas message, then not a lot of people are going [to vote].”
On April 18, it was officially announced that James Jia had won the re-election with over fifty percent of the vote, as no run-off was held. DiGrazia was asked how likely it was that the new president could accomplish the fundamental changes his campaign pushed for.
“In the grand scheme of things, you’re not going to have major sweeping changes, because we have a system to make sure everything that needs to get done does happen,” DiGrazia said. “But you might see changes with how things are organized, how groups work together, and how the students’ interests are represented. Overall I think it’s a beneficial change, to have new ideas and perspectives like James’.”
Despite losing the re-election, Garcia still has hopes that they can avoid confusion and controversy like this again.
“There are many things that can be learned from this situation,” Garcia said. “I hope that if the administration were to take anything from this disastrous election it would be to enforce clearer rules and have proper regulation across the board, and not be persuaded from any other candidates or students for how situations should be carried out. I hope for the best for the next elections!”
Time will only tell how a Jia candidacy will play out. But if one thing is for sure, it is that all candidates hope to avoid another controversy like this one.