Posted Friday, March 25, 12:44 a.m.

This year’s Student Association presidential election just won’t end.

The Joint Elections Committee will announce the winner of this year’s run-off by 5 p.m. Friday.

The JEC announced late Thursday night that because of violation hearings that could remove both candidates from the election, they would announce the results by Friday evening. Students voted Wednesday and Thursday. Election officials planned to announce the results late Thursday night.

The election was originally suppose to be over more than two weeks ago, but the Student Court postponed it until this week, after the undergraduate and Law schools’ spring breaks.

Ben Traverse, who won the general election, currently has six violations and faced a seventh on Thursday night concerning palm cards distributed at the Law School. Traverse would be removed from the election if he breaches the seven-violation threshold.

Audai Shakour, the runner-up in the general election, currently has four violations and faced two more violations Thursday night.

One involves campaign posters hung inside his 23rd Street fraternity house; the other involves an unsolicited message on the social Web site www.thefacebook.com. The JEC has also received a third complaint alleging that Shakour was campaigning in residence halls on Wednesday night, but has not yet discussed the infraction. If the JEC finds Shakour in violation of all three penalties, he too would be removed from the election.

The JEC is not required to announce the findings of the violations until Tuesday, but must announce the run-off election winner by Friday at 5 p.m., as stated by its charter.

If both candidates are removed from the election, the JEC will appeal to the Student Court for guidance on further procedure. Neither the JEC charter nor the SA Constitution outline what the next step would be if both candidates are disqualified from the election.