How ranked-choice voting was weaponized through post-hoc disqualification to override the will of over 72% of voters.
5,513 students cast ballots for Executive Vice President of External Affairs. The first-round results:
Miranda came in last place. In a normal ranked-choice election, the last-place candidate is eliminated first, and their votes are redistributed. Instead, the two candidates ahead of Miranda were both disqualified.
This is the critical detail: both disqualifications were announced after the voting period had already closed.
Voting period: April 6, 10:00 AM — April 10, 4:00 PM
Case 27 hearing (disqualifying strike): April 10, during/after voting
Disqualification announced: After polls closed
Over 5,500 students voted without any knowledge that their preferred candidates would be removed. They had no opportunity to reconsider their ballots.
After disqualification, here's how the votes were transferred according to the official tabulation:
846 transferred to Miranda (ranked 2nd)
1,049 transferred to Miranda (ranked 3rd)
197 exhausted (did not rank Miranda)
822 transferred to Miranda (ranked 2nd)
968 transferred to Miranda (ranked 3rd)
102 exhausted (did not rank Miranda)
Miranda went from 1,529 votes (27.73%) to 5,214 votes (100%). He received not only the votes of people who ranked him second, but also those who ranked him third — and the tabulation treated all transfers identically.
Standard ranked-choice voting works by eliminating candidates one at a time, starting with the last-place finisher. Voters' ballots then transfer to their next-ranked choice. This process repeats until one candidate achieves 50% + 1.
That's not what happened here.
Even accepting the disqualifications as valid (which is disputed), the RCV process was misapplied:
The Elections Code requires a candidate to achieve 50% + 1 to win. But under Robert's Rules of Order — which the Judicial Board itself upheld as the governing parliamentary standard for ASUCSD elections in a 2014 grievance case — votes cast for disqualified candidates are voided but still count toward the total when calculating whether a majority has been reached.
Total ballots cast: 5,513
Majority threshold (50% + 1): 2,757
Miranda's first-choice votes: 1,529 (27.73%)
Miranda's "final" tally after transfers: 5,214
But 3,984 of those votes came from disqualified candidates. Under Robert's Rules, those ballots are voided — they cannot transfer to another candidate. They still count toward the total of 5,513, meaning Miranda needed 2,757 to win. He had 1,529. He never reached a majority.
In a normal election, Miranda — as the last-place finisher — would have been eliminated first. His ballots would have been redistributed to Truchan and Yelkovan. The question of whether Miranda could ever reach 50% + 1 would never have arisen.
In the same election, the Essential Needs VP race used standard RCV:
| Race | Round 1 Leader | Winner | Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential Needs VP | Camila Gutierrez (43.3%) | Camila Gutierrez (56.5%) | Standard RCV — last place eliminated, votes transfer normally |
| External Affairs VP | Kaleb Truchan (38.0%) | Ricardo Miranda (100%) | Both opponents disqualified post-hoc — all votes transferred to last-place finisher |
In one race, the first-round leader won through legitimate vote transfer. In the other, the last-place finisher won through administrative disqualification of every opponent.