Correction: The original version of this article contained an error. The Election Board is prohibiting videos of the two candidates from being released until 9 a.m. on Thursday, while other candidates can post videos nine hours earlier, at midnight.
Two Bruins United candidates released their personal campaign videos to the public early ““ before Thursday, the day undergraduate student government candidates are allowed to begin campaigning for office.
Yannina Casillas, the campaign manager for some of the Students First! candidates, came across the videos early this week and filed a complaint with the Election Board the day after they were uploaded. The Election Board is prohibiting videos of the two candidates from being released until 9 a.m. on Thursday, while other candidates can post videos nine hours earlier, at midnight.
Bruins United and Students First! are the two slates that generally dominate Undergraduate Students Association Council elections.
Slates are groups of candidates who choose to pool their resources and run together, comparable to political parties.
Presidential candidate Emily Resnick and general representative candidate David Bocarsly uploaded the videos on Sunday. The videos were taken down shortly after upload.
“I uploaded the video thinking it was set to private. I had no idea it was available for public viewing,” said Resnick, currently a USAC general representative.
Both Resnick and Bocarsly, who uploaded their videos separately, said they changed the setting as soon as they noticed.
“We were confused and concerned as to why they were up already, and just wanted some clarification,” said Casillas, a fourth-year anthropology student.
In a written response to the complaints, the Election Board said it found that the “impact on voters was limited in scope.” Although both videos had multiple hits, the Election Board said the number of viewers was not sufficient enough to have a significant effect on the campaign.
Bruins United was also sanctioned for making its website live before Thursday.
The website had been live since Saturday.
“Although we were concerned about the website, we were more upset about the videos because they were a more obvious kind of campaigning,” Casillas said.
Bocarsly, a second-year business economics student, said the misstep was an honest mistake.
“We are aware of the campaigning start dates. It was just a minor technical issue,” he said.