Undergrad campaign violations examined
Election, Judicial boards investigate fraud allegations
By Rashmi Nijagal
Daily Bruin Staff
Every year during undergraduate student government elections,
allegations of polling and campaign violations are not uncommon. As
candidates and their supporters make the last push to reach out to
voters, rules are bound to be broken.
"Generally, we get a lot of complaints about people wearing
sandwich boards within a 75-foot radius of a polling station," said
Nikki Vivion, election board chair.
"We have also received a lot of questions surrounding leaflets
and their distribution and because there are several different
types of leaflets defined in the Elections Code, it is more of a
matter of explaining the difference between the different types of
leaflets. Once the Elections Code is explained, there is generally
less of a need to file complaints," she said.
While formal complaints surrounding the distribution of leaflets
are not filed very often, there have been two complaints within the
past eight days.
The first complaint was filed last Wednesday by J. Jioni Palmer,
political action coordinator for the African Student Union.
The complaint was in regard to a flyer promoting the Student
Departmental Senate, which runs out of the academic affairs
commission in the undergraduate student government. The formal
complaint stated that the flyer was an illegal use of campus
resources, and the leaflet constituted campaigning on a
non-campaigning day.
However, the Elections Board found that the flyer was not in
violation of the Elections Code since it did not mention any
offices or the elections, although Bruin Action Team candidates’
names were printed on the flyer. The Student Judicial Board ruled
in favor of the Election Board in a Monday night hearing.
"In regards to the complaint, the E-Board conducted an
investigation and got a copy of the flyer," said Dennis Trutna,
vice-chair of the Elections Board. "According to the Elections
Code, we felt that the flyer was not campaign literature or an
endorsement slip. They were not campaigning at all. It was strictly
for the use of the Student Departmental Senate."
Others, however, disagree with the ruling.
"I understand their argument but I think that a narrow reading
of the Elections Code would lead them to come to that conclusion,"
Palmer said. "However, if you could understand the context in which
this flyer appeared with all of those candidates names on it, you
could clearly see that this was a campaign flyer (and) that it was
meant to publicize their names and candidacies."
A second complaint regarding election flyers was filed on
Tuesday night. The Association of Chinese Americans distributed
flyers advertising a dance inviting all candidates from the
Students First! slate.
In this case, the Elections Board ruled that the flyer was in
direct violation of the Elections Code since the organization is
not recognized by the board as an official endorsing group. As a
result of the ruling, the candidates listed on the flyer were
sanctioned. They were unable to distribute campaign literature or
endorsement slips from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. yesterday.
"I think what happened was unfair," said Steph Nakano, a
candidate for general representative who was listed on the flyer.
"The organization did not think they were in violation of a code,
and we (the candidates) were unaware of what was going on.
"As far as the sanctions go, it is a lot of time for something
that we weren’t able to control," she added.
Illegal use of endorsement slips is not the only Elections Code
violation. Last year, allegations were made that poll workers were
not checking registration cards, allowing students to vote more
than once.
Many students, including current student government leaders, are
concerned about election fraud. General representative Marwa Kilani
raised some concerns over the subject at a council meeting earlier
last week.
"I found out this year when elections started that a friend had
voted for me several times last year," said Kilani.
"I found out that there weren’t any fraudulent acts committed so
I don’t know if this person was exaggerating or not, but it
concerns me that people can pull out some of their old registration
cards and get away with it," she said. "My point is to make sure
that such events do not happen."
The allegations of fraud last year were investigated in a
Judicial Board case that ruled against any of the charges.
In reference to Kilani’s comments, Vivion said that the E-Board
has not faced any further charges regarding last year’s case.
"Those allegations have never been brought to the E-Board’s
attention and they have never been proven by any means," Vivion
said. "We cannot really take a stance on something when it was
never really brought to our attention."
Although such allegations were never proven, the Elections Board
is taking extensive measures to make sure that election fraud does
not occur this year.
"The poll workers are instructed to check registration cards and
student identification cards," Vivion said. "They punch the
appropriate numbers for primary and final elections. There should
not be any confusion. We always match the number of ballots with
the number of signatures. If we ever do get a discrepancy, it is
very low, maybe one or two. Generally, they match exactly."
All complaints will be investigated in a timely manner, Vivion
added.
"We will research any complaint," Trutna said. "I can see how if
you are running or if you are supporting people who are running,
you would be concerned about campaign procedures. We respect
that."
In the first day of voting, Election Board members reported a
similar voter turnout to last year’s, which was about 27 percent at
the end of elections.
"We don’t have any definite numbers. The general thing that I
have been hearing is that it was slightly heavier than we
anticipated for today," Vivion said. "But it has been generally the
same as it has been in the past few years.
"My projection right now is that this election day will be
comparable to last year."