The Constitutional Council held a hearing that began at 7 p.m. in the University of South Carolina's Law School on Tuesday. Three cases were presented, two brought by presidential candidate David Henao against the Courtney Tkacs and Jordan Richardson campaign for president and vice president and one brought by Tkacs-Richardson against Henao and his former running mate Emma Connelly.
Henao, a third-year finance and economics student, was previously running with Connelly, a third-year broadcast journalism student. Connelly and Henao are no longer campaigning together. Connelly said in a statement she had initiated the split, and that her personal platform has not changed.
TikTok story
The final case presented alleges that on Monday night, a member of the Tkacs-Richardson campaign posted a TikTok story on Feb. 17 accusing Henao of harming a student at the university. Henao and his team said this accusation has since spread beyond the Tkacs-Richardson campaign to the student body, as well as the accused candidate’s friends, and his fraternity, Delta Tau Delta, and has negatively impacted his campaign.
The TikTok story, posted from an account called Morgan Poirier, reads "This STUDENT BODY election MATTERS. PLS VOTE you've lost all my respect when you did the same thing that almost killed me to another girl and yet you want to be student body president."
Henao and his co-counsel, third-year finance and operation supply chain student Wesley Black and third-year political science and biology student Mariah Hoover, said they believe the statement constitutes election fraud under the codes. The codes define "making knowingly false claims, through slander or libel, to mislead voters or harm another candidate or campaign" as election fraud.
"We are here because of malicious, false accusations spread by senior members of the Tkacs/Richardson campaign, which not only de-railed the campaign- but deeply harmed a student, a leader and a human being," Hoover said.
Poirier was the communications director for the Tkacs-Richardson campaign and had been posting advertisements for the campaign just hours before making the TikTok story post, according to Henao's team.
The Tkacs-Richardson campaign said the campaign member had been asked to resign once the campaign became aware of the TikTok, and Tkacs had repeatedly told her team not to attack other candidates.
Second-year political science student Tyler Frintner, co-counsel for Tkacs and Richardson, said the TikTok story does not include a specific name, person or third party pronouns to indicate who the post might be about.
"Who's this post about? Based on what I just read, you, I wouldn't know. Courtney Tkacs didn't fully know at the time, and a reasonable student wouldn't know," Frintner said.
The university is aware of the cases against the student body presidential candidates.
"The university has a process for handling reported campaign infractions and are addressing this the same way it would address other campaign infractions," University Spokesperson Collyn Taylor said in a statement.
Early campaigning
The first case presented alleges that on Feb. 17, the Tkacs-Richardson campaign became aware of a potential violation by the Henao-Connelly campaign, involving campaign member Hoover. On Feb. 9, Hoover texted Madeline Work, the president of the Delta Zeta Sorority at the University of South Carolina, asking if Connelly could present at a chapter meeting. Hoover and Work exchanged messages to arrange for Connelly to speak at Delta Zeta's Monday chapter meeting.
Black, the Henao campaign manager and co-counselor, asked Hoover who she contacted and why. Hoover said she contacted student organizations on behalf of second-year economics student Kaleigh Erler during her campaign for student body treasurer. Erler is no longer running.
"I joined Miss Connelly's campaign after these text messages. Hailey told me she wasn't running the afternoon of the 12th, and then at our sorority's philanthropy event, 'Singing for Sami' while me and and Emma Connolly were rehearsing, she told me about her campaign and I joined it," Hoover said. "And just to clarify, I was never Emma Connolly's campaign manager, both before the split and after. Her current campaign manager and previous campaign manager is Violet Rafferty."
Hoover said she was referring to Erler in her text to the Delta Zeta president on Feb. 9. She said she was not aware of the rule that she could not contact organizations and solicit speaking times before the campaign period and was going off of advice from the advisors of her Alpha Gamma Delta fraternity.
Frintner gave closing remarks.
"The Henao-Connelly campaign gained an unfair advantage by engaging these outreach efforts before the campaign officially began," Frintner said.
Black also gave a closing statement.
"The facts presented demonstrate clearly verifiable timing that refutes the allegations of three campaigning solicitations out of Henao/Connelly campaign," Black said.
Cocky fanclub
The second case presented alleges that before the official soft campaigning period began, the Tkacs-Richardson campaign created an Instagram account named “cockyfanclub” to gather followers in preparation for their campaign. On Feb. 13 at 7:17 p.m., the account name was changed to “TkacsRichardson2025,” effectively converting it into a campaign platform.
Since the account was created and discussed with voters before the start of the campaigning period, Henao and his team said they believe it is in violation of the codes. Candidates are only permitted to campaign after the official candidates' meeting, and by launching and repurposing the social media account before this period, Black and Hoover said the campaign effectively announced its candidacy prematurely. The account had over 300 followers before the soft campaigning period, indicating prior discussions about candidacy to gain voter support.
Campaign materials, including social media accounts, cannot be distributed before the official candidates’ meeting, and election regulations require Instagram posts to be pre-approved, treating social media accounts as campaign materials.
Hoover, who also served as Black's co-counselor, gave an opening statement.
"The Tkacs/Richardson campaign engaged in actions that violated both the letter and sphere of the election codes, leveraging an Instagram account, the "Cocky Fan Club", to build an audience before the campaign period, and then converting that following into an election platform. By doing so, they circumvented campaign regulations, gaining an unfair advantage over other candidates who adhere to prescribe election timeline," Hoover said.
Hoover also said the codes ensure candidates only solicit votes from students they have a preexisting relationship with, and that using the account in this manner is also solicitation.
Frintner said the Tkacs-Richardson campaign is facing baseless accusations of premature campaigning and the evidence has been digitally altered.
"On February 13, at approximately 7:22 p.m. the Instagram account name CockyFanClub was switched to TkacsRichardson2025. The transformation occurred one minute after the candidacy ended at 7:21 p.m. according to SGTV and was within the official campaign period," Frintner said. "Prior to this transition, not a single campaign related post, promotional item or message had been shared with the account."
Student body treasurer candidate Lester Lewis was called as a witness and testified during the trial. He said he followed the account because it was called CockyFanClub.
"I'm a University of South Carolina student, so I think I want to be part of a cocky fan club," Lewis said.
Henao's team said this showed the account name change misled USC students into following campaign materials.
The Tkacs-Richardson campaign declined to further comment after the cases had been heard.
The verdicts will not be announced until Wednesday afternoon. Under the Student Government codes, the verdicts should be announced at 10 a.m. on the day following, but the council pushed this deadline back, citing that the hearing ended close to midnight.
Polls opened at 9 a.m. on Feb. 25 and close at 5 p.m. on Feb. 26. It is unclear whether verdicts will drop before elections end. It is unknown when the election will be certified because the elections commission cannot certify the election with open Constitutional Council cases about election violations. Originally, results would be announced the evening elections end.
This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.