Desmond receives violation

USG Presidential candidate Jaime Desmond and her running mate, John Polk, received the first violation of the campaign season after four of their fliers were found hanging on windows, entranceways and a staff bulletin board in Curtin Hall. According to the elections code and University policy, no campaign material may be posted on such surfaces.

According to the elections code, all campaigns are responsible for their own campaign material. No reason was given for the not-guilty decision. Elections Court Chief Justice David McCann refused to comment on either decision.

"To our knowledge, none of the people working on our campaign hung these fliers," Desmond said at the hearing. "We have reason to believe there might be some outside influences working against our campaign."

Desmond did not say who she thought was working against her ticket or why she believed this. The defense questioned Elizabeth Schwarzbach (sophomore-premedicine), the campaign worker responsible for hanging fliers in Curtin Hall.

She brought a stapler and written instructions on how to properly hang material, she said. She had no tape or thumbtacks with her.

The fliers found on the windows had staple holes in them but were taped up, the elections commission found.

Desmond and Polk pleaded no contest to a second violation of partially covering another campaign's flier with their own. They were fined for the violation.

Other presidential candidates had mixed reactions to the violations and the court's ruling.

• Wesley Bowser said if someone else is responsible for moving the fliers, he or she is acting ridiculously and should stop because it is not helping the elections.
  

• Jason Covener said the idea of someone else mysteriously working against Desmond's campaign is absurd. More likely, he said, someone mistakenly or drunkenly moved the flier.
  

• Thane Fake said the violation and court's ruling did not concern him. He is only concerned with running his own campaign, he said.
  

• Michael Landsberg wishes the court would have adhered more strictly to the code because he has seen several Desmond/Polk violations.
  

• Darin Loccarini said the elections code makes it easy for campaigns to mistakenly violate it, or for other people to sabotage campaigns.
  

• Eryn Kramer, David Lubkemann's running mate, said Desmond and Polk were not at fault if there were staple holes.
  

• Blaine Rummel stands by the court's decision, and thinks any sabotage should end.
  

• Hank Saur said every campaign should be held to the elections code, but he trusts the court's decision. He added his campaign had nothing to do with the incident.