Amber Joyner, student senator, made a plea to the Elections Commission Friday to allow her to take candidate and Student Senate Pro Tempore Mike Alston’s place on the ticket.
Alston, a junior in civil engineering, suspended his campaign for Student Senate president last week, despite being on the ticket and all campaign materials of his running mate, Bobby Mills. Mills is the current Student Body President running for re-election and a junior in economics and political science.
Although Alston decided to stop pursuing his position, if the Elections Commission doesn’t make any changes, Alston will remain on the ballot, according to Elections Commission Chair Andrew Tucker, a senior in political science and communication.
Since the commission cannot rule to replace the candidates, according to Tucker, current Student Senate President Greg Doucette called for an emergency Student Senate meeting on Tuesday to decide on a resolution that will decide whether Joyner, a junior in political science, is allowed to trade places with Alston.
“The commission has no ability to do a candidate swap,” Doucette, a senior in computer science who is running for re-election as Student Senate president, said.
If the Senate decides that Joyner can get on the ballot, Tucker said the commission will hold a meeting after the Student Senate’s meeting on Tuesday. The final Student Government elections ballot has to be completed by 8 a.m. Wednesday, he said, so the Tuesday meetings are necessary to resolve the issue.
And if the commission adds Joyner, Tucker said the commission must then decide whether it will treat Joyner as a new candidate or allow her to “take off where [Alston] left off.”
Alston will have to withdraw from the race and his position on the ballot if the resolution does not pass, Tucker said, because if he stayed on, it would give Mills an advantage in spending.
Joyner, a junior in political science and business management and chair of the academics committee of Student Senate, said replacing Alston would be the only logical decision.
“It’s not logical for students to have [Alston] as a choice if he doesn’t want the office,” she said.
Joyner also said removing Mills’ partner would leave him at a “financial disadvantage.”
According to the Student Body Statutes, a candidate for student body president can spend no more than $300, and a candidate for Student Senate president has a limit of $250. So in a joint campaign, Mills and Alston would share $550 to spend on campaign materials, Tucker said.
In a joint campaign, he said each candidate must be “reasonably advertised” on campaign information.
“There has to be some clear, obvious sign that both are seeking office,” Tucker said.
And in an interview last week, Alston addressed that he no longer wanted the position of Student Senate president, and would not accept it if he won the election.
But with Alston out of the joint campaign, Tucker said the commission would have to decide how to divide the joint expenses in a way that would be fair with the rest of the candidates.
If the Senate passes a resolution supporting Joyner’s proposal, then she will become half of a joint campaign with Mills, replacing Alston, Tucker said. If the resolution does not pass, Joyner said she will run a write-in campaign for Student Senate president.
But according to Tucker, that would greatly change her chances of winning.
“A write-in candidate is not typically held to the same rules [as a formal candidate],” he said.
Mills, a junior in political science and economics, agreed that a write-in campaign would be more difficult but said Joyner would be fit for the position.
“She would do a great job and the best job as Student Senate President,” Mills said.
The Elections Commission also dealt with complaints at its hearing Friday. They gave Mills and Alston two notifications each.
The first notification dealt with using University property to campaign, in which Mills was accused of using his Trustee parking permit to park his campaign truck in parking lots that are restricted to certain students.
Tucker said Mills could use the Trustee permit to park in West Lot and Varsity Lot, but in any other, he would have to remove the permit from his windshield.
The commission dealt the second notification to Mills and Alston because they had spent campaign money before formally filing for office, Tucker said.
The commission discussed presidential candidate John Coggin’s accusations that Mills and his supporters had destroyed campaign materials, but Tucker said they would not enforce any punishments unless there is any more evidence.
