Nick Pironio
The Elections Commission’s subcommittee on violations discussed complaints against candidates running in the Spring 2006 elections Tuesday night.
According to the statutes published in the elections guide, if there are any appeals on the table election results cannot be released for the race in which the appeals apply.
Will Langley, candidate for student body president and junior in political science, had the most complaints filed against him.
The issue that garnered the most attention was three mass e-mails sent in support of Langley from Greek organizations and alumnus Mario Williams, a campaigning tool that is against elections policies.
“I’m not acquaintances with Will Langley,” Linsi Robinson, freshman in First Year College, said. “I wasn’t very pleased that this was in my inbox.”
Elections policies state that no candidates can send e-mails to potential voters without explicit permission.
“I reported two e-mails that I got,” Will Quick, candidate for student body president and senior in biomedical engineering, said. “Obviously I didn’t receive them because I wanted them.”
Quick received two complaints against him about chalking on a vertical surface and a sign on Langley’s clothesline, part of his campaign memorabilia.
“I think that is the reason Student Government sucks,” Langley said. “That people like Will Quick want to keep pulling out the rulebook on all these little tiny things, he wants to try to bust everybody’s balls for everything.”
“You know what this is like? It’s like a basketball game when a team is down by 10 with like 20 seconds left and they’re still fouling, still trying to send the team to the foul line and it’s just not gonna happen,” Langley said. “[Quick] just needs to give up.”
The subcommittee decided to recommend three different warnings, one for each of the mass e-mails sent to voters, and they recommended that the violations be sent to a higher board.
Langley also had a complaint filed against him for door-to-door soliciting in Tucker residence hall.
Dan Barber, freshman in First Year College, said Langley was going to rooms on the second floor of Tucker around 10 p.m. Monday night asking if residents had voted and who they voted for.
“I asked him if he’d gotten permission to go door-to-door and he said he doesn’t, ‘go by those rules,'” Barber said.
The subcommittee decided that the complaint is out of their jurisdiction and recommended notifying University Housing.
“At any rate I don’t feel I know the housing policies well enough,” Megan Peters, elections commissioner and sophomore in English, said.
Cody Williams, candidate for student body president and junior in agricultural business management, had two complaints filed against him regarding instant messages sent to voters yesterday. According to the subcommittee, the statutes have no mention of instant messenger policies.
Langley’s clothesline campaign memorabilia, which includes rope tied to trees, violates the landscape features policy in the student body constitution that states candidates are not allowed to attach things to land features.
“We’re in agreement that the clotheslines are technically in violation,” Peters said. “But I think it was to keep [candidate’s memorabilia] from harming the landscape features. I don’t see the harm.”
Langley received complaints regarding 10 different issues, ranging in date from March 3 to April 4. The issues ranged from posting flyers in restrooms to a phone conversation where Danielle Seale, polling director, said Langley made promises of good positions in the executive branch when he is elected in exchange for quick sentencing.