Amplify for IUSA has appealed its disqualification from the IU Student Association election to the IUSA Supreme Court.
The election commission disqualified Amplify after the ticket failed to include branded T-shirts and a miniature pony in its total campaign expenditures and failed to list the shirts and pony in its ?final financial statement.
According to the election code, tickets may not spend more than they receive in campaign donations, may not spend more than $3,000 and must submit a final financial statement by 5 p.m. the day after the election.
According to the original ?financial statements, before accounting for the shirts and pony, Amplify received $2,541.20 in campaign donations and spent $2,477.74, less than the limit and less than the ticket received in campaign contributions.
The election commission, however, determined the fair market value of the shirts to be $1,023 and the pony to be $350.
According to the revised ?financial statements supplied by Amplify to the Supreme Court, after accounting for the shirts and pony, Amplify received $3,959.60 in campaign donation and spent $3,937.03, more than the limit of $3,000, but less than the ticket received in campaign contributions.
According to the election code, tickets that spent more money than they received in campaign contributions or that spent more than $3,000 are eligible for disqualification.
According to the original financial statements, Amplify didn’t exceed both limits. According to the revised financial statements, the ticket did exceed the $3,000 limit.
The ticket also exceeded the campaign contribution limit from a single source, which can only reach $250.
After speaking with Amplify, the election commission determined the shirts and pony were not included and not listed because the shirts were donated for free and the pony was provided in exchange for 10 hours of community service at Agape Therapeutic Riding Center, according to the election commission’s ?official decision.
The family of Zack Farmer, the ticket’s vice president of congress candidate, provided the shirts to the ticket at a discounted price.
When Rachel Martinez, the ticket’s chief of staff candidate, reached out to Aparna Srinath, head of the election commission, to ask if the ticket could list the shirts at the discounted price rather than the fair market price, Srinath said the ticket could list the discounted price, according to Amplify’s official appeal.
Farmer’s family provided the shirts to the ticket for free and, therefore, the ticket did not list the shirts on the final financial statement.
The election commission contends that, even though Farmer’s family provided the shirts to the ticket for free, the ticket should have listed the shirts and the pony on the final financial statement, according to the decision.
Amplify for IUSA, however, contends that it did not list the shirts or the pony because according to Srinath’s advisory opinion, it believed it did not need to.
Additionally, Amplify cited a case from 1994 when the purchasing power of tickets was $2,500 and that by its inflation calculations today’s budget should be more than $4,000, implying that Amplify didn’t exceed its spending limit, according to the appeal.
The ticket also claims INtouch for IUSA did not list shirts reading, “Vote for Anne Tinder, Student Body President, INtouch for IUSA,” or donated pets on its final financial ?statements.
Srinath said the election commission is addressing these claims.
According to the election code the Supreme Court has four days to have a hearing on the appeal. A date and time for the hearing has not yet been released.
