Eleven candidates were disqualified by the University Board of Elections Wednesday night from appearing on the spring election ballot. All candidates have since resubmitted their petitions and are once again eligible to run.
UBE rules require all eligible candidates to submit at least one interim campaign expenditure report, according to Sara Anderson, chair of the University Board of Elections. Each candidate who was disqualified missed the 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline for submitting the report.
Anderson added that confusion arose due to a new rule which allows a candidate to opt out of expenditure reporting if he or she agrees to spend less than five dollars on his or her campaign.
The disqualified candidates were: Commerce Council treasurer candidate Timothy Bernal, Honor Committee Arts & Sciences representative candidates Brendan Connors and Kendall Fox, Third Year president candidate Christine Devlin, Arts & Sciences president candidate Jeff Frank, Student Council Arts & Sciences representative candidates Victoria Ingenito and Erin Goldson, Commerce Council vice president candidate Benamin Jones, Third Year vice president candidate Brian Poulson, Judiciary Architecture representative candidate Robin Shick and University Judiciary Committee Arts & Sciences representative candidate Connor Sullivan.
"We understand it caused some frustration," Anderson said of the opt-out rule. "We can't make any exceptions, because it is impossible to evaluate each on a case by case basis."
Other candidates, such as Frank, were confused about the finalization process.
"I was given no instruction," Frank said. "The UBE would have me believe otherwise."
Connors also had trouble finalizing the report.
"It is kind of childish in a way," Connors said. "They should have given us a little more leeway especially since I had submitted the report, but the rules are the rules. I don't know how much they reminded us but I can't complain too much."
All of the disqualified candidates have resubmitted their petitions and will be eligible candidates when the polls open today at 8 a.m., Anderson said.
Interim expenditure reports for all eligible candidates are available online for students to peruse. Candidates are also required to submit a final expenditure report at 8 p.m. the day the polls close or will be disqualified, even if elected, Anderson said.
According to Anderson, the UBE will review this year's election, and the current Board would be open to comments from candidates and students in general before they write a set of recommendations for the next Board. She added that any rule changes would be up to the next Board.
"We hope the confusion doesn't discourage people's faith in the University Board of elections," Anderson said.
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