All slates fined for election violations
March 12, 2003
All three Government of the Student Body executive slates received fines for campaigning infractions Tuesday.
In a two-hour meeting, the GSB Election Commission discussed infractions made by all three slates and requested statements from each, regarding campaign infractions.
Shawn Faurote and Vicky Lio’s slate received a $100 fine for soliciting votes in Birch-Welch-Roberts residence halls.
The commission received a letter from the president of BWR, stating two house presidents had complained someone was going door-to-door soliciting votes on behalf of the Faurote/Lio slate.
Faurote said he had no knowledge of these events and it was possible someone was handing out fliers to their friends. “Of course we would not do that,” he said.
The commission also spoke about possible infractions by the Faurote/Lio slate involving chalking ‘Shawn and Vicky For GSB’ on the limestone blocks outside of Student Services and table tents that were reserved under the name of mock trial instead of Students First, the student organization formed for the Faurote/Lio slate. Both of these incidents were dismissed.
Mike Banasiak and Ben Albright were given a $25 fine for posting a plywood sign outside Frederiksen Court without getting approval from the Election Commission.
Neither Banasiak nor Albright were present to give a statement to the commission.
Christian Dahlager, commission member, said Banasiak contacted him and he said he would stamp the sign, but he could not because he could not get to the stamp. He said he called Banasiak and told him he did not have access to the stamp, and Banasiak said the sign was already up.
Matt Denner and Jonathan Mullin slate received a $25 fine for not getting a banner that was hung in the Memorial Union stamped by the Elections Commission before it was hung.
Denner said he admitted it was his fault and that the incident was an oversight.
Another infraction by the Denner/Mullin campaign involved e-mails sent without including a required header and footer. A fine will be decided once the commission finishes investigating the number of e-mails sent without the header and footer.
A third incident involving the Denner/Mullin campaign occurred Monday in the Memorial Union. Denner admitted to standing outside the food court with a laptop, wearing a name tag and asked people passing by if they had voted. If they had not, he told them they could vote at the laptop he had set up. It was not ruled an infraction.
A Web site has also come to the attention of the Election Committee. The Web site (www.howbout no.com) was advertised on business cards that came into the possession of the Election Commission.
The Web site listed profiles of Vicky Lio and Matt Denner, asking students to write them in as off-campus senators. Voting instructions listed steps for voting, including, “Vote for Matt Denner/Jon Mullin for President and Vice President by clicking the box next to their name.”
The Election Commission is pursuing further investigation before fining the Web site’s owner, Andrew Miller, senior in computer science, or either slate listed.