Elections violation reviewed

Mario Ciabarra had a busy night yesterday.

After participating in his first Undergraduate Student Government debate, presidential candidate Ciabarra (junior-science) went before the USG Elections Court to face charges of a campaign violation from earlier this week.

The alleged violation discussed was a charge of early campaigning against Ciabarra, whose vice presidential running mate is Allison Szabaga (sophomore-marketing).

Ciabarra was accused of posting what might be construed as an elections promotion on his World Wide Web site before he registered as a candidate.

"This is clearly a violation of the elections code," said Beth Silvia, special prosecutor for the elections court.

According to Center for Academic Computing, the University's personal Web server is considered public domain and the site listed his intent to run for president, Silvia said.

Ciabarra's representative at the hearing, Jason Covener (senior-international politics), contested the Web site was not inherently public and was comparable to Ciabarra telling a friend of his goals in person.

"What we are dealing with is a gray area," Covener said.

The election court recessed for deliberation and will announce its decision March 26th. If found guilty Ciabara could face a fine of up to $50 or disqualification from the election, according to the code.

Other alleged campaign violations were reported to the election commission but not officially filed with the court said Duane Gildea, chief justice of the court. All other reported violations will be filed today.