Before the polls closed Tuesday evening, all three Student Government Association slates had been fined for campaign violations.
Cardinal Collaboration and University Coalition were fined for sending e-mails to students through Gradebook, and Cardinal Impact was fined for posting fliers in an area prohibited by the Election Code, Elections Chair Marco Pretell-Vazquez said.
A fine of $20 was deducted from Cardinal Impact, the slate that won the election, when a picture message taken on a cell phone showed a campaign flier posted on a bulletin board in the David Letterman Communication and Media and Building reserved for telecommunications postings only, Pretell-Vazquez said.
Cardinal Impact President-Elect Beth Cahill said the slate members asked some friends to help hang fliers around campus. They explained the rules about where the fliers could hang, she said, but someone must have misunderstood.
"I don't know if they didn't see the sign or didn't understand the rules," Cahill said.
She said the flier was an honest mistake and the slate did not have a problem paying the fine.
"It happens a little bit every year," she said, "and it hit us."
The money was deducted from Cardinal Impact's $250 bond that is required to run for SGA.
The other two slates also lost part of their bond money, as Cardinal Collaboration paid a $100 fine and University Coalition paid $20, Elections Board Sheriff Nicole Akey said.
Cardinal Collaboration used the online Gradebook system to send about 4,500 e-mails to the slate members' current and former classmates, Akey said, which violates the Election Code.
The e-mails included Cardinal Collaboration's platform items and a call for students to vote for the slate, Pretell-Vazquez said.
Slate president Nathan Meeks said he was unaware that sending e-mails through Gradebook violated campaign rules at the time, but he understood why the Elections Board enacted the $100 fine.
"At least they didn't take all my bond," he said.
University Coalition sent about 30 to 40 e-mails through Gradebook after classmates of treasurer candidate Derrick Stalbaum asked him to, slate campaign manager Nick Hewitt said.
Students traditionally receive a campuswide e-mail with the Web address to the voting site, he said, and when the e-mail had not come by early afternoon Monday, Stalbaum's classmates in two classes asked him to send out the link.
When Stalbaum told Hewitt about sending the e-mails, Hewitt said, he contacted Pretell-Vazquez because he realized the e-mails were against Election Code.
The Elections Board discussed all three slates' violations Monday and finalized a decision Tuesday about how much the fines would be, Pretell-Vazquez said.
Two years ago, former SGA President Betsy Mills' slate was fined $1 per e-mail sent through Gradebook. Akey said, though, that fine was not specifically laid out by the Election Code and it is up to the board to decide how much fines should be.
Pretell-Vazquez said the Elections Board came to what it agreed was a reasonable fine.
"We didn't nickel and dime them per e-mail," he said. "At the end of the day, they were just trying to get their word out."
Pretell-Vazquez said there are no official protocol or criteria for determining how much fines should be worth, and whatever the Elections Board feel is appropriate is what slates have to forfeit.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
