In last year’s Student Government Association’s election season at Towson University, Ryan Assadi and the Positive Change ticket were nearly disqualified from competition as a result of a campaigning infraction that would have been the team’s third strike. Assadi appealed the infraction, and the campaign was allowed to continue, but the regulations that led to the misunderstandings roll on.
Darryl Glotfelty, left, looks for signatures in the University Union in his bid for Treasurer under the United Stripes ticket. Photo by Pete Lorenz
The strict rules of what candidates can and cannot do has led to controversy and severe difficulty in campaigning for some students who wish to be a part of SGA. However, the SGA Election Committee claims that the rules are in place to protect both candidates and voters.
“I think in the end is that the goal of SGA elections is to have an election,” Election Cimmission president Chris Rindosh said. “So we’re not looking to disqualify people, we’re not trying to make it hard for them. The reason people are so meticulous in trying to follow the policy is that sometimes your opponents are trying to find any advantage they can get.”
This year’s candidates for SGA positions were, which are to be signed by 200 Towson students, submitted to the SGA Election Commission by Friday, April 2. But until then, the candidates have not been able to publicly advertise their candidacy.
During this verbal campaigning stage, candidates are prohibited from such basic techniques as social networking and posting signs and fliers.
“The reason for the two separate cycles is that it would be almost kind of hell for the candidates to have to campaign for three weeks,” Rindosh said. “It’s very intense. They concentrate a lot on what they’re doing, and it would be somewhat even detrimental to their grades. When I was running for SGA I know I had a hard time with that.”
Sophomore Justina DiCarlo of the Election Commission said that grades are considered paramount, even for candidates who wish to put their efforts into the campaigning experience.
“We don’t want students to be involved in any organization that are letting their grades suffer,” DiCarlo said. “They are here for an education, and we want SGA to be a supplement to that education and experience.”
The rules are also designed to maintain a good atmosphere that isn’t constantly bombarded with campaigning.
“To be honest, I think the campaigning has an effect on campus,” SGA president Jon Graf said, “and I think as a student, generally, I wouldn’t want to be overwhelmed by two and a half or three weeks with students that were trying to get me interested and get me to vote for them.”
However, Graf admitted that perhaps over-campaigning could result in disillusionment from the student body, and that too much campaigning could be detrimental to a candidates chances.
“Once you get stuck in a system and you try to work out of that system, which I have for the past two years, I guess it’s difficult for me to try to grasp other options,” Graf said.
Another major rule is the $1,000 spending cap, which includes anything purchased for or donated to the campaign. Graf said that this portion of the campaign can be tough to follow.
“Getting receipts for things can be difficult sometimes. Value estimating things that get donated – not always the easiest thing to do,” Graf said.
SGA senator BriAnne Bentivegna said that the rules can make it incredibly difficult for candidates to follow.
“I want to make sure I get everything done and stuff, so I recorded every single little thing down, every piece of paper,” Bentivegna said, recalling her campaign experience from last spring. “I wrote my name on everything, because it’s really easy to get disqualified for little things like that. I happened to actually get fliers printed off, so I had a receipt for that. I recorded every little thing because I wasn’t getting disqualified for something little.”
Still, Graf said there was a great benefit to having a spending cap, despite the consequences.
“I like that there is a spending cap,” Graf said. “I like how that makes it accessible for the regular student. On other campuses, that’s not the case, and some students spend excessive amounts of money, like upwards of tens of thousands of dollars. Luckily, ours makes elections accessible, which is great, especially for somebody like me who doesn’t have all kinds of dollars and wants to be able to still have this kind of experience.”
In addition, the Election Commission has, like in past years, laid out further restrictions for candidates, such as not campaigning in the SGA office or around polling places.
Scott Hackett, a member of the commission, said the rules are fairly clear for anyone running.
“I think it’s pretty well outlined, because we did redo the policy this past semester. It really is all about the person who’s running reading and knowing what they can and cannot do, and not so much the election commission. There’s not a lot of gray area.”
SGA senator Lauren McDade agreed.
“To me the purpose of that interaction is to answer any questions about why you’re running, but you shouldn’t be saying ‘vote for me,’ wearing a T-shirt,” McDade said. “As soon as petitions are in, Facebook groups can go up, shirts can be put on, so I think the line between the two has been made pretty clear.”
Still, the laundry list of materials for candidates to follow is extensive, and runs the risk of making campaigning harder and possibly even less accessible. Rindosh said that while this is something to look out for, the commission keeps an eye on that and wants to maintain the right atmosphere. One way it does that is by leaving all decisions up to the discretion of the commission.
“In the end, I think it’s up to the election commission to say, ‘is this person really trying to break the policy? Is it giving them a severe advantage when they have broken the policy?’” Rindosh said. “Those sort of things. If they didn’t realize it, it’s not a big deal. Those sort of things have very little impact on the election.”
Rindosh said the purpose of the strict rules is to keep people from gaining unfair advantage over other candidates, and to level the playing field.
“If they’re posting things everywhere, it gives them a severe advantage in the election over the people that are actually trying to follow the rules,” Rindosh said. “At that point maybe we’d have to revoke some of their privileges.”
Graf said that regardless of the rules, campaigning for SGA is a trying experience. For that reason, Graf thinks somehow the Election Commission needs to find the best balance to make sure students don’t become overwhelmed with the process.
“Campaigning is not an easy thing to do,” Graf said. “It’s definitely a wearing kind of thing.
