IUSA tickets fined; voting sites finalized

IU Student Association elections will take place Tuesday and Wednesday. A flurry of legal activity and Election Commission decisions has preceded the event.

When the dust settled, the IU Student Body Supreme Court ruled that the Election Commission would use the same polling locations that were used last year. Both tickets will be represented at these polling locations.

The iUnity ticket was charged $215.96 by the Election Commission for failing to report
expenditures and overspending.

The Kirkwood ticket was fined $100 on Feb. 23 for failing to turn in a financial statement on time. Kirkwood presidential candidate and sophomore Justin Kingsolver said he realized his ticket had erred and asked the Election Commission to take appropriate action. Since then Kirkwood has submitted weekly financial statements in an effort to be more transparent, Kingsolver said.

Here’s a recap of legal problems during the IUSA elections:

Supreme Court Case
The IUSA Supreme Court heard a complaint Wednesday filed by iUnity against Election Coordinator and senior Andrew Dahlen and the Election Commission.

The iUnity members alleged that the Election Commission did not allow proper time for Congress to approve five designated polling locations, an action that violated the Election Code.

Furthermore, iUnity stated that their ticket reserved three of the five polling locations prior to the Election Commissions’ reservation. According to iUnity’s petition for injunctive relief, removing those locations from the possession of iUnity would cause the ticket “egregious harm.”

Dahlen said it was the Election Commission’s duty to reserve the most highly trafficked polling locations and allow them to be staffed by members of both tickets.

Kingsolver said his ticket did not reserve polling locations because he believed the Election Code stipulates that polling locations would be reserved for his ticket by the Election Commission.

Kingsolver said allowing iUnity to hold its currently reserved polling locations would give them an unfair advantage.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of iUnity, saying that the Election Commission cannot reserve polling locations with Congress’s approval four weeks prior to the election.

Therefore, the court also said polls will be located in the same spots as where approved by Congress in 2009: the Indiana Memorial Union literature desk, Wright Quad, Foster Quad, Kelley School of Business lobby, the corner outside of Ballantine Hall near the Arboretum at 10th Street and Fee Lane, and the Student Recreational Sports Center.

The ruling states that because iUnity did not wait until after the four-week deadline had passed, it accepted the risk of losing polling locations to the Election Commission’s reservation.

iUnity and Kirkwood will have to share all IUSA reserved polling locations.

Election Commission Case
The Election Commission heard a formal complaint Thursday filed by Kirkwood presidential candidate Justin Kingsolver alleging that iUnity violated the Election Code by failing to report expenses on a Feb. 12 financial statement.

The statement stated that iUnity had no donations, no expenditures and no transactions at that time. A Feb. 26 financial statement showed two transactions totaling $1,215.96 on Feb. 10 and Feb. 11, which Kingsolver said should have been reported on the Feb. 12 financial statement.

Kingsolver said iUnity also violated a section of the Election Code stipulating that no ticket can spend any more than it has at a given time. According to the formal complaint, iUnity was in violation of the code until Feb. 15 when it received its first donation of $1,000.

The iUnity ticket was fined $215.96 by the Election Commission for the charge, said iUnity presidential candidate and junior Michael Coleman.