Presidential candidate Chris Clark and executive vice presidential candidate Ted Costigan were both cleared of campaign charges by the Joint Elections Committee Tuesday night, and both candidates will participate in to this week’s runoff election as originally planned.
Clark was acquitted of a charge alleging he sent out a campaign email prior to the start of the official campaign period. The JEC also unanimously found Clark not guilty of having palm cards taped in various places in Madison Hall. According to election rules, no poster may be hung inside a residence hall unless it is on a dorm room door or inside the room itself.
The Clark campaign said they did not dorm storm – an event where candidates are permitted to go through the residence halls to campaign – this year. Clark added that if his team did dorm storm, Madison Hall would be not have been their first choice of halls to visit or poster.
“The violations were misguided and overblown,” Clark said. “I appreciate the JEC and their understanding of the situation. I look forward to this week’s campaign election and look forward to having the opportunity in serving the student body next year.”
Clark, who received 26.53 percent of the vote in the general election, will face off against John Richardson for the Student Association presidency in Wednesday and Thursday’s runoff elections. Richardson garnered 25.02 percent of the vote.
EVP hopeful Ted Costigan was acquitted on all eight charges levied against him.
The JEC found Costigan not guilty for having a poster hung on a wall in Thurston Hall, for hanging a poster on the Clock Tower on the Mount Vernon Campus, and for distributing palm cards outside the designated campaigning zones.
Additionally, Costigan was acquitted of all charges made against him for disrupting University functions during a rally outside Gelman Library March 7 to protest student printing costs. Costigan also did not receive any violations for his involvement in a Facebook event to promote the rally.
Costigan was further found not guilty of interrupting a Pi Kappa Phi chapter meeting. He will go up against EVP rival Amanda Galonek in the runoff election.
Both candidates already received violations two weeks ago for postering on the walls adjacent to the entrance of Ross Hall. Clark received two and Costigan received one, based on the number of posters hanging on the building’s walls.
It takes six penalties to be removed from the ballot. Penalties are assessed based on the number of violations a candidate is convicted of.
“We’ve been committed to running a campaign while my opponents have come up with charges against me instead,” Costigan said. “I’m going to be out there again, fighting hard for every vote.”
Newly-elected SA Sen. Nick Koeniger, SoB-U, received two violations for distributing palm cards at the entrance of Duques Hall and in the buildings’ study rooms. Candidates are restricted to specific zones on election day marked by campaign tape.
The JEC also gave one violation to Senator-elect Elizabeth Kennedy, ESIA-U, for creating a public event on Facebook. The committee’s charter notes that Facebook events must be closed and that only the candidate may invite people to attend.
Runoff election voting will run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.
