Updated by JIMI GLEITSMAN

APTOS — Cabrillo College and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office are investigating allegations of fraud in the 2016 Student Senate elections, calling into question the electoral system and the entire process of student governance.

The case is being investigated as felony identity theft. It was brought to campus officials by political science major and former student senator Spencer Merritt, 20, last September.

“I’m very passionate about politics, and when I found out that this was going on, it was really hard for me. I kind of had a crisis of character. I didn’t know if I wanted to switch majors or whatever,” Merritt said. “I expected corruption, but to find it at a community college level was really surprising.”

The allegations came to the attention of the public after a student posted photos on Instagram of a text conversation supposedly held between Merritt and Nik Osorio, former vice president of the Student Senate.

The messages imply that Osorio was part of a group of student senators who referred to themselves as “the enlightened ones.” The group seemingly enlisted a student library worker to snap photos of student ID’s, and used their information to cast fraudulent votes through SurveyMonkey, the website Cabrillo has used for online voting since 2011.

A seat on Cabrillo’s Student Senate might seem like low stakes to commit a felony for, but student government positions actually carry some weight, not to mention a sizeable budget to allocate.

“People don’t realize that student senators actually talk to real legislators, or that they’re involved in running the school to a limited extent, or that they have a budget of over $200,000 that we [students] pay for,” said Merritt. “But the real reason is you get to go to any school you want. I mean the results are there, a lot of the people who did the election fraud ended up going to pretty elite schools.”

Dee Baldwin, a spokesman for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, said the investigation is ongoing.

“This is a high priority for us, a significant event that we take very seriously, so we’re dedicating resources and investigators to get to the bottom of it,” said Baldwin.

As this is an ongoing investigation, most of the information available is based only on a few sources and should be treated as speculation.

On learning that the text messages had been made public and rumors were beginning to circulate, Kristin Fabos, Cabrillo director of marketing and communications, advised the current student representatives not to comment on the case, and later sent an email to the entire student body regarding the investigation.

“Cabrillo is working in partnership with the Sheriff’s Office on this matter, but cannot comment further on the alleged election fraud because it is the subject of an ongoing law enforcement investigation,” the email read.

One factor that could have contributed to the alleged fraud is low voter turnout. Less than 6 percent of students voted in the 2017 student elections.

“The lack of interest by the students is part of what enabled the alleged fraud,” Merritt said. “In a school of 12,000 students, if only about 600 students vote, you can steal a couple hundred ID’s and maybe only about 80 of them come up as doubles, that’s easy to do. If we had 100 percent voter turnout, this would be impossible.”

Another factor is that Cabrillo students seem largely unaware of the Student Senate’s functions and day to day activities. Merritt said that the communication between students and the senate was not as strong as it could be.

“The Student Senate represents the student body of Cabrillo College on campus and with the administration,” Fabos explained. “The Senate is the voice of the students, and represents students on various campus participatory governance committees, Faculty Senate, College Planning Committee, etc.”

The senate also oversees funds collected from student fees and allocates them for clubs, students, monthly social events, excursions and study abroad programs. With a total of three accounts, the 2018-2019 budget is more than $200,000.

It is still unclear whether the 2016 election is the only one which may have been compromised. The messages between Osorio and Merritt also imply that the “enlightened ones” had a system for enlightening new senators, bringing those they trusted into the fold and passing on the process for casting false votes.

“The fact is that this was something that went on for three years, that was passed on from one person running for president, to another person, to another person,” said Merritt.

Merritt clarified that the Student Senate is not to be blamed as a whole. Student Senate adviser Alta Cilicia Northcutt also defended the current group of student representatives in a statement to the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

“They have worked very hard to serve and represent their constituents, and these allegations should not cast a shadow on the current Senate’s legacy,” she said.

But some students feel that the process of student governance at Cabrillo doesn’t serve all students equally. Concepcion Guzman, a former Cabrillo interclub council member, expressed her dissatisfaction in a comment on the Voice’s coverage of the investigation.

“Nik Osorio and the people in the student senate did not and still don’t represent the student population at Cabrillo… a reflection of our government today,” she said. “As a person of color, I did not feel comfortable around them. They use their positions to better their clubs and not necessarily help the community.”

Merritt has formed a club called “Seahawks For Democracy” with the intent to reform Cabrillo student elections. It also aims to create an internal ethics committee for the senate, increase communication between students and the senate, and ultimately increase voter turnout.

“Not just students, but people living in a democracy should pay attention to what’s going on in their student government, city council, state legislature, all the way up to the federal level,” said Merritt. “People do tend to do corrupt things, and the only way that we can make things better is by being active and participating.”