Of the 117 candidates running for student office, many may be disqualified for not attending an orientation meeting.
The Associated Students of the University of Utah sponsored three information sessions in January, one week after the filing deadline for General Assembly and Student Senate candidates. Each session was held at a different time over the course of three days, and attendance to at least one of the sessions was mandatory, according to the candidate information packet issued by ASUU.
The Elections Committee voted Monday to disqualify independent Assembly candidate Aaron Titus because he did not go to any of the orientation sessions.
Many other candidates also did not attend orientation, however, and if the committee follows the precedent it set with Titus, all of the candidates who did not attend the session will be disqualified.
When representatives from the Impact Party heard about the potential disqualifications, they began to look for ways to resolve the issue.
Some candidates sent letters to the Elections Committee explaining the situation, but they had a difficult time contacting Josh Walker, the elections registrar. Kare Neve, ASUU secretary, also did not know the details of the ruling, so she made the ballot with names of all the candidates still on it, according to Blake Barlow, an Impact Senate candidate who stands to be disqualified if the ruling holds for all candidates.
“As it stands, no one has been disqualified,” Barlow said. “I don’t know if Josh Walker is going to push it any further.”
The Elections Committee still plans to meet to determine the possible disqualifications.
“We’re going to make a date for all of us to get together and decide that,” said Olivia Howell, a member of the Elections Committee. “We’re going to do what’s fair, we don’t want anybody to be unhappy or anything.”
Walker told Titus to act like he was still running when Titus asked in an email how he could appeal the decision. Walker also told Titus he was “working with the elections committee right now to get this whole thing worked out” in the same email.
The elections policies listed in Redbook do not demand that candidates attend an information session, but Redbook authorizes the Elections Committee to take disciplinary action for campaign violations. Listed campaign violations in Redbook involve posting regulations and where and how candidates can campaign, but not attendance at any meetings.
The Elections Committee has disciplined candidates before for not attending the information sessions, but they did not last year, according to Kristien Hixson McDonald, the candidate coordinator for Impact and Senate chairwoman.
“It’s not standardized,” she said. “If it really were a violation, perhaps the sentencing could be different.”
McDonald said she would appeal the decision, even if the candidates were only fined for failing to attend the meeting.
“The only thing I would be satisfied with is if they completely repealed their disqualification of Aaron Titus,” McDonald said.
Disqualifying candidates could have a major influence on the elections because there are so few candidates this year. There are only 107 students running for the 63 seats in the Assembly and Senate, which leaves only 44 candidates to whittle out through election. The disqualification of so many candidates would leave very few seats contested.
“We have some amazing candidates that really deserve to win,” said Heidi Spilker, the campaign coordinator for Impact. “If you’re creating uncontested seats, you are creating disinterested candidates.”