Each of the two University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) presidential tickets have been accused of elections code violations and will go before the Board of Arbitration tonight.
Both Adewumi-Weakland and Ragland-Smith are pleading not guilty to the violations, said UPUA Head Elections Commissioner Matt Lachman. Both tickets will go before the board beginning at 9:30 p.m. in 330 HUB-Robeson Center to determine whether they are guilty.
The charge against David Adewumi and his running mate Devin Weakland involves a March 26 incident in which a student ran around campus wearing a flag that read, "Adewumi for President." The flag was not stamped by the Elections Commission and therefore was in violation of the UPUA Elections Code, Lachman said.
This is Adewumi-Weakland's second violation. The first incident occurred March 16 when Adewumi distributed unstamped campaign materials at an Interfraternity Council (IFC) meeting.
Adewumi plead guilty to the first violation and therefore did not have to take his case to a hearing before the Board of Arbitration, receiving instead a 4 percent decrease in his campaign spending limit.
Because it is the ticket's second violation, Lachman said, there is an increase in the severity of the punishment proposed for Adewumi-Weakland. If found guilty, they could be subject to a 10 percent decrease in their spending limit, bringing their total decrease to 14 percent.
The charges against Christian Ragland and his running mate Colleen Smith involve two separate incidents in which campaign recruits for the Ragland-Smith campaign tore down fliers for the Adewumi-Weakland campaign, Lachman said.
The first incident occurred March 22 in Thomas Building and the second occurred on March 25 in Willard Building.
The severity of the Election Commission's prescribed punishment for Ragland-Smith will depend on whether the ticket is found guilty of both incidents. If they are found guilty of both, it could result in a 16 percent decrease in their campaign's spending limit.
The Board of Arbitration, which consists of members who have been appointed by UPUA but who do not serve in UPUA's assembly, will determine the final verdict and the severity of the sentences for each campaign, Lachman said. The board can choose to accept the Elections Commission's recommendations or increase or decrease the level of punishment as it sees fit.
Lachman said though last year's campaign season was an "anomaly" in that it was uncharacteristically clean, it is normal to have campaign violations and most years in the past UPUA and its predecessor Undergraduate Student Government (USG) have seen violations at this stage in the campaign season.
Read tomorrow's issue of The Daily Collegian for details.
