The University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) elections commission has determined that prospective UPUA presidential candidate Jay Bundy has violated the elections code by campaigning before the official start date.

Campaigning is scheduled to begin tonight at 5 p.m.

An article in The Daily Collegian published on Friday announced Bundy's intent to run. The commission decided this article constituted campaigning.

The commission has yet to decide on a punishment.

"We were not able to get a statement from Jay Bundy by the time we had our meeting [last night]," Ashley Hill, head elections commissioner, said. "Once we get a statement from him, we will use the information to deduct the punishment in the form of the fine."

The commission e-mailed him yesterday to urge him to come to its 7 p.m. meeting. Upon opening this message for the first time, Bundy said he was surprised.

"We have an elections code violation already?" Bundy said. "Sweet. We're badass."

Bundy said he will give his statement at the next commission meeting tomorrow, when each of the three members will rank his violation's severity on a one to 10 scale. Those numbers will be averaged together to determine the percentage of money to be detracted from his campaign budget.

"We want to make it as fair as possible before we make any sanctions against him," Hill said.

Bundy said he was unaware of the violation.

"The final thing that is important to note is that the interview was done before they even finished publishing the elections code and the packets were available," Bundy said. "There was no way for us to know what the official rules were going to be."

He also said that he disagrees with the policy.

"I feel that these limits on the campaign according to the elections code are not like a regular democracy," he said. "We have two weeks. Other than that, keep your mouth shut. It's a gag order."

Bundy said he is willing to meet with the commission to present his case.

"We will do whatever we need to do to cooperate," he said. "This is a misunderstanding and simply poor timing of information. Had we known, we wouldn't have done it."

Hill said a fine is likely, but disqualification is always a possibility.

"It could happen, but I don't foresee it for a first time violation," Hill said. "However we are taking it very seriously. He broke our rules and had an unfair advantage over the other candidates."