This is a breaking story and will be updated.
With five hours until polls open in Tuesday’s Student Government Board elections, it remained unclear whether one of two slates with a presidential candidate would be on the ballot.
The board’s election committee ruled Monday that the Vision Slate was disqualified and ineligible to hold office. The slate has appealed the decision to the board’s judicial committee. Vision presidential candidate Joseph Landsittel said the committee began a hearing into the matter shortly before 2 a.m. and was still going as of 3 a.m. It is one of four slates running in the elections, which are open to student voters from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The committee said in a Monday letter — posted on the board’s website at 10:11 p.m. by Kiley Verbanac, a senior and SGB’s operations director — that it received information on Sunday about an alleged infraction regarding the distribution of shot glasses in a predominantly first-year residence hall.
“This alleged action was in direct violation of the approved distribution plan and Student Code of Conduct,” the committee said in the letter. “The Student Government Board Elections Committee does not approve nor condone the distribution of alcohol paraphernalia to underage students or on-campus property, underage drinking, binge-drinking, or any violation of the Student Code of Conduct.”
Stephen Jacobus, the judicial committee chair, and Olivia Bartholomew, the elections committee chair, both declined to comment on the situation early Tuesday morning. It has not been released publicly what specific conduct violation the Vision Slate is accused of.
A first-year resident in Sutherland West — who asked to remain anonymous — said people on behalf of the Vision slate passed out the shot glasses on Sunday night at about 11 p.m. or midnight. They said the people called the glasses a “Hershey’s cup holder.”
According to the SGB Governing Code (Section 15 Item 3. Material Restrictions A. Materials), the only campaign materials that can be distributed during a targeted campaign are “printed materials and chalking.” Any other items need to be approved by the elections committee before they are distributed.
The elections committee said in another Monday letter, posted on the board’s website at 10:52 p.m. by Verbanac, that the slate was guilty of putting up posters in Sutherland and Lothrop residence halls “without consent of the Elections Chair.” The elections committee is requiring the slate remove the posters “as soon as possible.” The slate’s alloted time for tabling on Monday was also reduced from one hour to 30 minutes.
Contributed reporting by Leah Mensch.
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