The undergraduate student government election board issued a total of seven sanctions Monday and Tuesday.
The board received a total of 10 complaints and issued one sanction for a campaign finance rule and regulation violation, two sanctions for on-campus campaigning violations, and four sanctions for social media violations.
The election board, which oversees and regulates the USAC election, sanctioned the Bruins United slate Tuesday for submitting an incorrect expense account. The board said the slate’s funding form also failed to disclose a sponsorship from a mobile application, and issued a 24-hour campaigning ban. Bruins United is required to submit an updated expense account and source of funding form by 7 a.m. Thursday.
The board also sanctioned transfer student representative candidate Sayron Stokes and external vice president candidates Chloe Pan and Jack Price. All candidates are running independently and were each sanctioned twice.
On Monday, the election board sanctioned Pan for a Facebook post made by one of her supporters that lacked the necessary disclaimers. The board said the necessary tag and hashtag must be added to the post by 3 p.m. Tuesday.
She was sanctioned again Monday because one of her supporters campaigned on a group messaging application without the necessary disclaimers. A student had posted on a GroupMe chat to show support for Pan, the complaint said.
The board said the group message must be updated with the necessary disclaimer and that Pan must provide evidence to the board by 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Candidates are required to tag the election board’s page and include the hashtag #USACVoiceYourVote on every social media post related to campaigning.
The board sanctioned Price on Monday because an Instagram post by one of his supporters lacked the required hashtag. The board said the disclaimer was not present on the post and required someone to add it by 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Price was sanctioned again for not complying with his previous sanction Tuesday night. The election board said he had not updated the post with the disclaimers by 3 p.m. and prohibited him from social media campaigning from 7 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. Wednesday.
The board sanctioned Stokes twice for on-campus campaigning violations Tuesday.
Stokes was first sanctioned for using a poster on Bruin Walk that lacked the election board stamp, and is prohibited from campaigning until she gets the election board’s approval and logo stamped on the campaign material by 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Candidates are required to mark all stampable campaign material – with the exception of endorsement slips – with a current election board logo.
Stokes received another sanction Tuesday for distributing campaign flyers without an election board-approved logo. The board said Stokes is required to get the election board logo stamped on the flyers before additional campaign materials can be distributed.
Click here for full coverage of the 2017 USAC elections.
The student government’s attempted regulation of the Internet is probably unconstitutional under Reno v ACLU. The attempt to require disclaimers definitely violates the state constitution (Schuster, 1980) and the federal constitition, Talley v California (1960). The student government should reconsider its actions, or expect to get sued.