Yes, the rules are the rules, and senior vice-president candidate Taylor Bentley violated them by hanging a campaign poster less than 15 feet from a campus computer that could have served as a polling station. Since a rule was violated, it is only fair to hold a revote election for the position of vice president. What is not fair is disqualifying Bentley from the ballot. With little evidence of Bentley purposefully breaking WSA rules, a simple revote should be sufficient to right the results. Instead, the WSA is unduly punishing Bentley for a mistake that probably had little bearing on the results.
Bentley hung his poster above the second floor deli entrance in the Campus Center. Approximately 10 feet away is an old iMac some students use for e-mail. It is easy to overlook the computer, as it is not one of the most popular computers used on campus. His poster was printed on a normal 8×11 piece of paper, also not that conspicuous. It seems that the rule regarding computers and campaign materials is intended to keep candidates from harassing students on computers or papering computer labs with endless flyers. In this instance, however, the rule seems to be nothing but a technicality.
Though we respect the current rules, this incident also shows that the WSA’s rules are out of step with how students live now. With wireless internet access now blanketing the campus, someone with a laptop could easily vote on Foss Hill, or in a classroom right next to a campaign ad. Students are flooded with e-mails from candidates, and with those open in their inboxes as they vote online, how different is that from a campaign flyer in a computer lab? We respect the WSA’s attempts to regulate the election and ensure that there is no harassment of voters, but Bentley’s elimination indicates the lack of realism in these rules. We hope the WSA takes this as an opportunity to reexamine their election procedures and ensures that the rules are still relevant to the way students live now.
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