SA Supreme Court lifts disqualification for Voice of Change

By Northern Star staff

The Student Association Supreme Court lifted executive election ticket Voice of Change’s disqualification at a Tuesday hearing.

The Voice of Change ticket was sanctioned by the SA Board of Elections for excessive litter of campaign material, failure to get handbills approved by the election commissioner and taping a flier to a wall, not a bulletin board, which led to its disqualification Thursday.

The court overturned the sanctions for litter and unapproved handbills and found Election Commissioner David White and the Board of Elections acted improperly by sanctioning the Voice of Change ticket.

Litter

Nathan Lupstein, who has since been elected president on the Voice of Change ticket, said there were less than 10 handbills left in Neptune Central after March 25, which he said was not excessive. The Voice of Change ticket was warned around noon and sanctioned around 2 p.m. March 25 for excessive littering after an initial warning by the Board of Elections on March 24.

Handbills

Lupstein said there was a “lack of oversight” on the Voice of Change ticket’s behalf in distributing handbills, which were first distributed March 22 without approval from SA Elections Commissioner David White. The ticket immediately ceased campaigning and White approved the handbills around noon that day, White said.

The Board of Elections imposed a sanction on the ticket at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday after the 8 p.m. deadline for the Voice of Change to appeal any sanction to the board, said Rachel Gorsuch, Board of Elections member. The sanction was applied because of the board’s concern for how long the handbills were out and how many students may have seen the handbills before they were approved, said Brandon Phillips, Board of Elections chairman.

Flier

The Board of Elections cited the Student Involvement and Leadership Development poster policy in its adhesive sanction.

The poster policy states approved posters may only be placed on bulletin boards in university buildings. Any poster on a bare wall will be removed, according to the policy.

Gregory Lezon, Board of Elections member, said he removed a Voice of Change poster that was taped to a tiled wall in DuSable Hall, but did not see any visible residue or damage to the wall.