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Party barred from campaigning

Minor appealed runoff sanctions against Student Voice party

By Geronimo Rodriguez
Senior Staff Writer

After receiving complaints about Student Voice party members' campaign tactics during the Student Government Association general election March 10 and 11, the SGA Election Commission said vice presidential candidate Alysia Minor will be the only Student Voice member allowed to campaign during the runoff election for SGA vice president.

Minor offered no comment after Chief Election Commissioner Jason Short announced the decision March 12, but she did file an appeal. It will be presented before the University Hearing Board today, Election Commissioner Jackie Thomas said.

The Hearing Board may be presented with another case as well. Cougar Delegates presidential candidate Michael Graves said he plans to file an appeal today with regard to the commission's decision not to disqualify candidates who failed to submit their financial disclosure statements 24 hours before the election.

Minor, who received 44.5 percent of the 2,799 votes for the vice presidency, and UH 4 U's Matt Bell, who garnered 46.6 percent of the vote, will vie for the vice presidential position Wednesday and Thursday. The runoff will be decided by a plurality, with the newly elected Senate breaking a tie.

The commission's punishment against Student Voice stems from four complaints, including two addressing some party members' decision to check out laptops from a computer lab at the Bauer College of Business and use them to solicit votes. Although using the laptops to get students to vote did not violate any rules, the commission said the candidates should not have solicited votes inside the college.

The commission also sided with a complaint against former SGA student regent Faisal Zahed. The complainant, Dusti Dawn Rhodes -- a Daily Cougar staff member -- said Zahed attempted to pressure her to vote Student Voice on the straight-party ticket option at the Philip Guthrie Hoffman Hall Breezeway on March 10.

Pre-business junior Dan Robicheaux filed a complaint against Student Voice's Che Rose, who was running for the At-Large 3 Senate seat, for campaigning within 50 feet of a designated polling location at the Social Work Building on March 10. Robicheaux said that when he confronted Rose, the candidate replied, "I'm just a ‘sheisty' politician."

All the complainants requested that the candidates involved be disqualified, but the commission decided that allowing only Minor to campaign during the runoff would suffice.

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