Student Government presidential candidate John Woodard was found guilty Thursday evening of one election code violation but not several others during an SG University Court hearing — the first of this campaign season.
The complaint filed with the court, Boudreaux v. Woodard, argued Woodard violated several SG governing documents through premature campaigning and should be immediately disqualified from the SG presidential election. The court ruled in Woodard’s favor, except he was found guilty on a 5-3-1 vote of violating article 6, section 1 of the election code. Woodard was accused of violating seven different sections of the SG election code.
The election code states, “ticket organization and preparation may begin at any time, but absolutely no campaigning may take place during these stages outlined in this section.” Biochemistry and French sophomore and complainant Jacob Boudreaux said a variety of social media posts indicated Woodard’s intentions to run for SG president prior to the beginning of passive campaigning.
According to the original statement of complaint, a hashtag campaign was discovered Feb. 6 on Instagram and Twitter titled “#WoodardWednesday.” The original complaint argued “#WoodardWednesday” was used to raise awareness of Woodard’s campaign and his ticket prior to the mandated beginning of passive campaigning.
As a result of his being found guilty of the one violation, Woodard had to stress to the court that he was not affiliated with “Woodard Wednesdays” and that he would discontinue any affiliation with it.
Photos that were posted on the social media websites, which included the hashtag “#WoodardWednesday,” encouraged viewers to visit Mike’s Daiquiris for free cover charge on “Woodard Wednesdays,” according to thecomplaint.
“By going to these events, Mr. Woodard directly associated himself with this campaign,” Boudreaux said in an opening statement. “If random people were using his name, it would be different. The fact that Mr. Woodard went to these events proves that he had direct knowledge of this event happening.”
However, the defense argued that Woodard had no involvement in the planning of the “Woodard Wednesdays” events.
If Woodard were found guilty of these violations by the court, his campaign would have been immediately disqualified.
“I don’t think it could have gone any better,” said Joe Gipson, a member of Woodard’s counsel and a political communication and English junior.
Gipson said this was a sticky situation, but he is glad the judicial branch favored his side.
“I saw this as a clear violation of the rules,” Boudreaux said. “Even the commissioner of elections wanted this to be a clean and fair election, and I saw this as early campaigning.”
Boudreaux said he would have preferred a harsher punishment.
“He is not going to be disqualified, but I’m glad that he will no longer be associated with this event,” he added.
Editor’s Note: This article has been amended from its original version, which said Woodard was not found guilty of any violations.
