Election Commission Sanctions Leonard/Joshi

The United Student Government election campaign has barely gotten under

way, but one presidential ticket is already facing sanctions from the election

commission.

Tom Leonard, FCRH '10, candidate for executive president, and his running

mate, Dipta Joshi, FCRH '10, candidate for executive vice president, started their

campaign a day earlier than election rules allow, launching a facebook group at

12:03 a.m. on Wednesday, March 25. Campaigning for the April 2 and 3 election

could not begin until Thursday, March 26 at 12:01 a.m. They will be penalized

two minutes of campaigning at the end for every minute in violation. That

means, since they kept the group up for a full day before they were allowed,

they will not be allowed to campaign Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

 "According to the official election packet all individuals were provided for

the campaign, campaigning could begin on Wednesday, March 25 at 12:01 a.m,"

Leonard said. "Furthermore, until 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 25 the official

USG 2009 election facebook group stated that the campaigning was to begin

Wednesday, March 25 at 12:01 a.m."

The Ram confirmed that the official election packet did indeed read

"Wednesday, March 25 at 12:01 a.m." for the start of campaigning. However,

Election Commission Chair Wigberto Astacio, FCRH '09, and Assistant Director

of Leadership Caroline Whelan said this miscommunication was immediately

corrected.

"The memo we put out had the wrong date on it," Whelan said. "There was

certainly an opportunity for miscommunication, so we did our best to make sure

everyone was informed of the correct date. We discussed it at both info

sessions, posted it on the USG blog, and sent out an e-mail to all the

candidates. [Tom and Dipta] were at both info sessions."

"At the mandatory meeting at which they were in attendance, there were

multiple questions asked about that date, and making sure it was Wednesday

night going into Thursday when the campaign began," Astacio said. "I remember

answering the question twice myself, and Caroline answered it as well. We said

several times, the date when campaigning can begin, when facebook pages can

go up, is Thursday, March 26 at 12:01 a.m."

No other candidates started the campaign on Wednesday besides Leonard and

Joshi.

"It was our understanding that it was clear," Whelan said.

Leonard and Joshi also claimed that Whelan had informed them on two separate

occasions that they could begin campaigning on Wednesday morning.

"Myself and D.J. confronted Caroline Whelan on two separate occasions, because

we had a question regarding when exactly the campaigning was going to begin,"

Leonard said. "We asked her if on Wednesday we could put up our information

and our facebook group, and she said 'yes.'"

But Whelan said this could also be a case of miscommunication.

"If they heard Wednesday, it would probably be me saying 'Wednesday night

into Thursday morning,'" Whelan said.

Regardless of miscommunications prior to Leonard and Joshi putting up their

facebook group a day early, in violation of the election code, there was certainly

no miscommunication afterward.

"Immediately after the facebook group went up I received messages telling

me about it, and I sent Leonard a message at 12:16 a.m. notifying him to take it

down because he was in violation of the election code, and if he didn't, he would

face punitive action," Astacio said. "We responded back and forth on facebook

and it resulted in him saying that he would not take it down. After this I

continued to get complaints about it, because everybody knows what the rules

are. I was in contact with the commission until 3:30 a.m. This morning we

called an emergency election commission meeting to resolve this issue. He was

in violation of campaign rules and was compromising the integrity of the

election."

Leonard, however, refused to back down, even when facing sanctions and

aware that no other candidate had started his or her campaign on Wednesday.

"We intend to leave it up because we feel that we're right, we know that

we're right," Leonard said.