West Virginia University’s Student Government Association will delay changing leadership positions one week after election results failed to be certified Tuesday night.
The SGA Judicial Board met Tuesday along with SGA Attorney General James Bailey and SGA Elections Chair Matt Gutta, to discuss six reported election violations.
The Board will release a statement today regarding the six cases after hearing the defendants at the meeting.
The four defendants present were PIRATE Party Athletic Council-elect Jarred Zuccari, Governor-elect Olivia Audia, Governor-elect Evan Bonnstetter and Mountaineer Choice Governor candidate Matthew Boczanowski.
The other two candidates could not attend the meeting due to scheduling conflicts.
Bailey first presented Zuccari’s case. Gutta filed a violation after Zuccari sent out a group initiation through Gutta’s Facebook. Zuccari said it was an "unintentional mistake."
Gutta said he allowed Zuccari on his Facebook, and believed there were no malicious intentions.
"If he would’ve known that sending group invites from the elections chair Facebook was a violation at the time he definitely wouldn’t have done it," Gutta said. "He’s definitely competent enough."
The Board resolved the issue within 20 minutes by incorporating the "Rock the vote" campaign. Gutta sent page requests for all candidates in the election. It affected approximately 80 people, Bailey said.
Audia was accused of dorm storming, a violation filed by members of the Mountaineer Choice who submitted a picture of her in Honors Hall.
She said she was meeting with Bonnstetter to go campaigning. Citing her Adventure West Virginia leadership this summer, Audia said she was talking to students she knew when the picture was taken.
She said she was not campaigning, though her campaign materials were in a bag she was carrying.
"I was not wearing my shirt, so it wasn’t, like, easily accessible, and I wasn’t handing them out," she said.
The violation filed against Bonnstetter was similar to Audia’s – dorm storming in Honors Hall. Bonnstetter, however, lives in the residence hall.
Bonnstetter said he was talking to his friends, encouraging them to vote but not saying whom to vote for.
"A lot of kids in the Honors Hall didn’t know about elections, we didn’t have a bulletin board with posters," he said. "There’s a couple signs on doors."
The individual Bonnstetter was talking to wrote a letter to the Judicial Board detailing the conversation.
Boczanowski had a violation filed against him for having e-mails sent out on a University listserv endorsing him.
After presenting a letter from the individual who sent the e-mail, which states a University listserv was not used, Boczanowski had a copy of the received e-mails – all MIX and Gmail addresses, legal by the Elections Code.
Bailey said the e-mail affected approximately 40 people.
The other candidates will meet the Judicial Board later in the week.
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