Home > News > Bylaw violations cause SA to appoint new student body representatives
Bylaw violations cause SA to appoint new student body
representatives
BY ROBERT DOWNS
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
ISSUE: 78/29
Students originally elected by the student body to the positions of student body president and vice president of Administration and Finance for the Student Association (SA), were disqualified from the election following allegations of election procedure violations. In last week’s election, there were two candidates running for each position: Anna Lundberg and Adam Wittrock for student body president; and Matt Lundberg and Andy Sax for vice president of Administration and Finance.
As a result of the allegations, alternative candidates Wittrock and Sax were appointed by the SA congress to replace the dismissed candidates, according to Katie Best, the SA public relations director. SA would not release the names of the candidates who were in violation of the policies. None of the candidates immediately returned phone calls to the Statesman. The candidates were disqualified by the Rules and Elections (R&E) Committee following allegations of campaign misconduct, according to a report by SA titled, “Response to the Complaint of Violations Committed in 2008-2009 Elections.”
In the report, the dismissed candidates were found to have violated bylaws, which included: posting campaign flyers in the UMD library; distributing T-shirts urging voters to vote for them; soliciting voters by placing flyers under doors of UMD on-campus residences; and not removing campaign materials from the UMD campus after election results were determined. These violations prompted the R&E Committee to strip the candidates of their elected positions. Once the candidates were found in violation, SA made an executive decision to forego a re-election process. Since there were only two candidates running for each position, the elimination of one of the candidates resulted in an uncontested race.
Best explained that candidates must submit a petition three weeks in advance, and because of time constraints, a re-election wasn’t an option. “Because the two candidates had been disqualified, it became an uncontested race,” said Best. “In order to have held another election, we would have had to hold it for all of our positions.” This re-election process is not outlined in the policies enacted by the SA bylaws.
The details of the situation were made available to the Statesman in the form of a press release. When asked if the student body should have been contacted regarding possible solutions, the SA once again referred to their policies. “The way things were dealt with were all laid out in our bylaws,” Best said. Michael Gravelle, a junior at UMD, was aware of the election but unaware of the appointment of the presidential and vice presidential positions. “I saw the posters up before the election,” Gravelle said. “But this is the first I’ve heard of anything [regarding the situation].”Wittrock and Sax will be taking over their respective positions at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year.
