Candidates participating in the upcoming student government elections now have more specific guidelines regarding how to report all campaign expenditures.
The U Board of Trustees passed an amendment to the ASUU constitution, Redbook, clarifying election-spending policies Dec. 11.
In past elections, Redbook rules were unclear as to how candidates should report their expenses and lacked straightforward definitions of what information needed to be submitted to the elections registrar regarding spending in different situations.
The new bill defines expenditures using three price categories: everyday retail value, wholesale value and non-perishable value.
As the bill went before the Associated Students of the University of Utah, General Assembly and Senate members were concerned that the bill lacked a clear-cut definition of what constitutes wholesale value.
Instead of immediately amending the bill to include a definition, elections registrar Lorraine Evans defined wholesale in the elections packet, a booklet created for all candidates specifying all election rules and regulations.
According to the packet, wholesale is defined as “the resale of new and used goods to industrial, commercial, institutional or professional users on a large scale without discrimination.”
Evans said, “The loophole regarding the definition was that people questioned whether it meant, ‘Does wholesale just mean anyone who will sell to a candidate for a cheaper price?’ This definition closes that up, saying that the price reported must be the price given to anyone, and not the result of an arranged deal.”
An electronic receipt and the phone number of the store must also accompany reports of wholesale purchases. If items are bought at a club discount store, such as Costco or Sam’s Club, the price of the membership must also be included.
Evans said she will include the definition of wholesale in a bill amending the new Redbook law. The bill will go before the Senate and Assembly in January or April.
Former ASUU Chief of Staff and potential presidential candidate Rick Pehrson said the new law makes reporting more clear. “In the past, specifically in the 2001 elections and last year, candidates struggled with financial guidelines and how to report things,” Pehrson said. “This is a very positive change.”
Currently, students are preparing to file for candidacy. Candidates for president, vice president and senior class president will file Jan. 19, and Senate and Assembly candidates will file Feb. 2.
Because of the election rule regulating pre-active campaigning, candidates are limited in their public actions. They are now preparing their campaigns by raising money through donations, planning events, meeting with school officials, creating platforms and recruiting committees.
Candidate Cameron Beech, former ASUU spokesman, said, “I am examining current issues and building my platform, which I hope the students will respond to in a positive way.”
Beech said some key issues facing student voters will be the status of KUTE-the U’s student radio station-the student life recreational center and Rock the U, a dance marathon to raise money for cancer to be held in March.