The Focus Party was fined $150 for posting its party’s website before Saturday, when candidates running in student government elections were allowed to begin advertising for their campaigns.
All candidates running in the Associated Students of the University of Utah elections were not to open websites or hang up posters before Saturday.
The ASUU Election’s Committee also ruled Focus’ website to betaken down until today.
Special Prosecutor Jill Baker said that the Focus Party violated RedBook, the student constitution, by posting campaign materials on Tuesday, Feb. 26, before the designated posting day.
The website in question contained the party’s logo, a copyright moniker and the words “Coming Saturday!” The background was teal, the party’s color.
“It was analogous to posting a giant banner,” she said.
Baker cited a ruling against the People Incorporated Party in the 2005 ASUU elections to support her argument. The party had posted an online database with their party’s color before posting day and was subsequently fined $300.
The Focus Party’s website was up for 23 hours and 33 minutes before its content was removed. The website now only shows a blank, white page.
Andrew Murphy, a senior economics major representing the Focus party, said the website’s URL was closely guarded, and the site could not have been seen by anyone outside the party. The only people who know the URL are campaign members and Dave Martini, the ASUU elections registrar, he said. Also, the website can’t be found in a Google search yet, which was confirmed by the Elections Committee.
“This was not analogous to putting it up for all campus to see,” Murphy said.
The website was not designed to check how many visits it receives, so the party could not determine how many people saw it.
Murphy apologized on behalf of the party and admitted a mistake had been made. He said the website designer had several drafts of the page and may have saved the wrong draft. A communication error about the change in the election schedule may have also been one of the reasons for the premature posting, he said.
The original posting day was Feb. 22, but since only two parties are running, Martini made a decision to change the election schedule and move the posting day back a week. Murphy requested that as punishment, the Focus party’s website go up the day after posting day, one day later than planned. Instead, the committee fined the party and ruled that the site could not go up until three days later.