JEC Oversees Candidate Violations

Walking down H Street by the Marvin Center, you may have noticed long lines of yellow tape inscribed with the words “Campaign Limit” marking off several different areas. In these marked-off areas, candidates running for election this season – both for SA positions and otherwise – are not allowed to put up posters or distribute campaign materials. Failure to comply with this rule may result in the candidate acquiring a candidate violation, six of which will eliminate a candidate from the race. But this is only one of many different ways in which a candidate can accumulate a violation.

According to the Joint Elections Committee, a violation occurs when a candidate breaks one of the rules laid out by the JEC charter, the text of which can be found on the JEC’s website at www.gwelection.com. Violation occurrences include postering in the wrong places, hanging up a poster directly on top of that of another candidate, sending out unsolicited messages to students, campaigning before the campaigning period begins, and handing out campaign materials that have not yet been approved by the JEC.

So far, roughly fifty violation complaints have been filed to the JEC, which looks carefully at each and every case to determine probable cause; probable cause is determined by looking at whether something actually happened – there needs to be evidence of an intended violation – and whether it should be tried. When a violation is tried, the JEC decides whether or not to give the candidate one of the six violations he or she can accumulate before being disqualified from the election.

Within the first 72 hours of a complaint being filed, said complaint is only made known to the candidates, but once probably cause is determined, the complaint goes on public record: these complaints, and the proceedings, can also be found on the JEC’s website.

-Alex Laska