BSG candidates Pierce and Ford disqualified

By Amanada Seef
NEWS EDITOR

In a memo sent Monday, March 31, the Election Commission decided to disqualify Darnell Pierce and Michelle Ford, when it was made clear that their campaign was in direct violation of numerous Election Commission guidelines. However, it was stressed the Commission did not believe the candidates had the intent to deceive.

Letters were received Saturday, March 29 by campus residents who had signed Pierce and Ford’s petition earlier in the semester. The letter included campaign buttons that had previously been approved by the Election Commission, though the letter itself had not been approved. This was in violation of the Election Commission guidelines which state, “All printed media used for advertising and campaigning must be presented to the Election Commission before they are to appear on or off campus.”

The advertisement was in the form of a letter, though the deliverance was not through the U.S. Postal Service, nor Brockport’s interoffice mail system. Because of this, the letter is considered a violation of approval for advertisements from the Office of Residential Life. All posters must be approved by the Office before they are posted.

“All posting must be in accordance with building requirements and in compliance with the rules and regulation of the Residential Life/Learning Communities,” the election guidelines state. “If this does not occur, the candidate will be immediately removed from the ballot.”

The Election Commission made the unanimous decision to disqualify the candidates in a meeting March 31.

“Due to the nature of these infractions, and in the interests of being fair to all candidates, the commision voted unanimously to disqualify Mr. Pierce and Ms. Ford,” a memo from Lindsay Hansen, Election Commission chair said. “Although it is not the belief of the commission that Pierce and Ford intended to deceive BSG officials, or the student body, they are in clear violation of the rules created by the commission.”

“As they were both made aware of the rules prior to the candidacy, the commission felt that they had no choice but to disqualify them in the interests of fairness to the other candidates who have been following the rules that were broken.”

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