Potential candidates for Student Government president and vice president were disqualified from running for office late Tuesday night before candidates could even sign up to run.
After two hours of deliberation, the SG Election Board ruled to disqualify Jay Buller and Robert Lay should they decide to file for candidacy for SG’s top two executive positions.
Buller is the current speaker for the Student Senate and Lay is a senator.
Buller and Lay were charged with violation of the election code by sending an e-mail to 23 heads of campus Greek organizations stating their candidacy and soliciting support.
On March 6, Buller and Lay sent an e-mail stating “the Buller/Lay ticket is looking to emphasize strong support from our outstanding Greek community at LSU.”
The e-mail went on to say Buller and Lay were looking for people who would are “interested in running for a Student Government position or like to help support the Buller/Lay campaign.”
The e-mail also requested that each recipient of the e-mail “disseminate this information to all your chapter members as we try to gather as much support for our campaign as possible.”
Allen Richey, SG executive assistant, and Kyle Wilkinson, SG special projects director, filed the complaint against Buller and Lay.
Richey and Wilkinson are each expected to file to run for president before the filing deadline Friday. Potential candidates can file to run for office beginning today.
The SG election code states “there shall be no active campaigning prior to qualifying of candidates.” The code’s definition of “active campaigning” includes, among other things, the announcement or discussion of candidacy in print, broadcast or any other media.
Part of Tuesday’s debate centered around whether or not e-mail is considered “other media.”
Buller said he does not think the board should consider the e-mail as campaign solicitation or an announcement of candidacy.
“Basically the e-mail just asked them if they knew of anyone who wants to run,” Buller said. “That was the intent of the e-mail.”
Lay said the e-mail is not a form of media because, similar to a phone call, it is a private conversation between two individuals.
“This is no way of soliciting voters,” Lay said. “This is no way to go out and solicit support, whatsoever.”
Richey said the reason he and Wilkinson decided to bring the charges against Buller and Lay is this e-mail announced their candidacy and gave them access to certain campus groups before the campaign.
“The self-titled Buller/Lay ticket, we feel, has announced their candidacy 15 days before” the allotted campaign period beginning on March 21, Richey said. “This is something that often takes place in Student Government–tickets form long before. However, they form through private conversations and individual meetings, not broadcast e-mails which announce this candidacy.”
Wilkinson said Buller and Lay did not send the e-mail to every Greek president because his fraternity’s president did not receive it.
Wilkinson, a Kappa Sigma member, said this act shows the malicious intent of the e-mail.
Buller said they only sent the e-mail to the heads of those Greek organizations from whom they thought they would receive a positive response. They left off certain organizations out of respect to other potential candidates.
In the board’s official unanimous decision, Elections Commissioner Zach Howser said the e-mail in question does violate election code because it constitutes “other media.”
Buller responded by saying he will file an injunction today with the University Court to put a hold on the Election Board’s decision.
Richey and Wilkinson said they recognized the seriousness of their charges, but it is not their decision to decide the punishment.
Buller said he expects the University Court will hold a hearing by Thursday night. He also expects the court to overturn the board’s decision.
“Robert and I are totally confident that what we did is in the bounds of the election code,” Buller said.