Ali Khatib’s presidential victory was dissolved by the Student Government Association’s Judicial Board after they ruled to amend the SGA constitution to redefine who can vote in SGA elections.
The election results were announced on March 12, where Khatib (495) won the election by two votes over incumbent Brendan Hawkins (493).
Nate Hunt, SGA election ways and means director, said this is the closest election in Murray State’s SGA history.
In an interview with Daniel Hurt, WKMS’ host of the Morning Show, Hawkins said there were people around him encouraging him to challenge the election.
Hawkins said he received a call from Jeanie Morgan, former SGA adviser, on March 13, telling him that he needed to get the election results overturned. He said she instructed him to fill out the appropriate documents for an appeal to the Judicial Board.
Hawkins said Morgan was contacted by JT Payne, a state representative from Henderson and a former SGA president. Hawkins said that after Payne heard Racer Academy (dual-credit) students voted in the recent SGA election, he contacted Morgan to inform her that this was not allowed.
Payne has refuted Hawkins’ claim. In a written statement to WKMS, Payne said he “did not express support on either side of the matter” and that he has “no interest in being involved in the Murray State Student Government elections.”
Hawkins submitted a form to challenge the election results, requesting a hearing before the Judicial Board and claiming the votes that led to Khatib’s victory were invalid.
In his challenge, Hawkins wrote that approximately 1,500 high school students are enrolled in Racer Academy dual credit courses, and their votes may have “directly influenced” the outcome of the election.
His challenge stated that Sarah Hultman, Murray High School math teacher, had “come forward to report” Khatib visiting the school to solicit votes from students who were enrolled in dual-credit classes.
Hawkins requested the election be redone to ensure fairness and integrity for SGA, as these students are not constituents of elected officers and therefore should be ineligible to vote in elections.
In Khatib’s formal response, he wrote that Hawkins did not follow procedure in contesting the election. Khatib cited the Election Procedures and Requirements, which reads, “All challenges to the elections, including campaign offenses, must be made in writing and presented to the Center for Student Involvement Office before the announcement of the results.”
Khatib also asked that the case be dismissed due to the broken procedure and the evidence that he collected countering Hawkins’ challenge.
On March 31, SGA held a trial to hear Hawkins’ challenge. Hawkins said the plaintiff’s goal was to ensure the intent of the constitution, as to who can and cannot vote in elections.
He said Racer Academy dual credit students should be unable to vote in SGA elections as they are “uninformed” on campus life and “a lot of them may not have a personal connection to Murray State or SGA.”
Morgan, the former SGA coordinator and adviser, was called to the stand. Morgan said the intent of the SGA constitution was not to allow high school students or faculty to vote in SGA elections.
“The election—this constitution is not upheld,” Morgan said. “My understanding is that this election is void.”
Brantley Travis, IT coordinator responsible for handling the VoteNet system, was called to the stand. He was asked to confirm that 31 high school students and 15 faculty and staff members voted in the election.
Travis said there were 9,767 total eligible voters, including 1,397 dual-credit students and 96 faculty members.
“So, we’re looking at (1,493) voters, who shouldn’t be voting,” said Garett Hastings, Hawkins’ adviser. “While (the election results) were not that number, this is a gaping hole in the integrity of our elections.”
The Judicial Board called Hunt as a witness. As the election ways and means director for SGA, Hunt’s role is to monitor the SGA election and make sure all rules are followed.
Hunt said he believes there was a lack of clarity in the SGA constitution’s rule for who could vote in the election.
He said he believes Hawkins’ procedure for challenging the election’s results was handled within a proper time frame since it pertains to an issue with the SGA constitution itself.
The Judicial Board called their second witness, Hultman, who confirmed that she never spoke to Hawkins about Khatib campaigning to Murray High School students.
“To my knowledge, he was never in the building,” Hultman said. “He never came to anyone’s classes.”
Hultman said she has never met Hawkins.
Jennifer Speed, Murray High secretary, joined the trial via Zoom as well. She said she had not seen Khatib on the school’s campus during the 2024-2025 school year.
“I have checked the visitor logs from the beginning of school to current time,” Speed said. “He has not signed in to be on campus.”
Leigh Johnson, chairman of the accounting department, was called to the stand. She said it was her understanding that any student enrolled at Murray State could vote in the election, including Racer Academy students and faculty taking classes.
Ishan Alkhatib, political science professor and Khatib’s father, was called to the stand. He said that he took issue with constitutional changes affecting an election that has ended.
“Any system you have can be changed or modified,” he said. “But if you’re going to change the rules, you can’t change them retrospectively. You can’t say, ‘Oh, we’re going to change the rules because we don’t like the outcome.’ It can’t happen. You can change them respectively and almost improve the system.”
After hearing all testimonies, the Judicial Board ruled that the election be nullified. A new election will determine the executive board for SGA, which includes the positions of SGA president/student regent, executive vice president, vice president of finance and vice president of administration.
Hawkins hosted an open Q&A for his reelection on April 10 where he said he never knew who Hultman was, only that he included her in the appeal at the direction of Morgan, the retired SGA adviser.
At the Q&A, Hawkins was asked why he said Hultman came forward to report on Khatib’s campaigning in his initial challenge.
“I really don’t know,” Hawkins said. “I would believe the evidence does point towards (Khatib not campaigning at Murray High School). Does it really matter to me? Does it really matter—is that even something that we’re running on? That’s completely irrelevant. That’s not something that we’re even addressing….Whether or not he did doesn’t matter.”
Khatib and Jesus Figueroa Martinez, a Racer Academy student, filed a lawsuit against University President Bob Jackson on April 9 in response to the Judicial Board’s ruling. The case is scheduled to be heard in Calloway Circuit Court on April 21.
The new election will take place April 14-15, on MyGate. The election closes at midnight and will be announced following the SGA meeting on April 16.
