Flores and Vela announce candidacy early, possibly violating election rules

Associated Student Government (ASG) Student Trustee Beau Flores and Senator Jeff Vela announced their candidacy for ASG president and vice president, respectively, on Facebook this afternoon, March 7, a possible violation of ASG’s election rules and regulations.

While ASG’s deadline for election intent submissions was today at 12:00 p.m., the document mandates that candidates cannot campaign until two weeks before election week, which is April 11-13, according to Orgsync.

The Criterion is awaiting comments from Flores and Vela on the issue.

“The campaigning period shall begin on the Thursday two weeks prior to Election Week,” Article 9 of the election rules, a document candidates must sign before campaigning, reads. “No campaign materials shall be posted or distributed before this time.”

The document defines campaign materials as “any supplies used by a candidate or candidate’s staff that have the primary purpose of furthering the candidate’s likelihood of being elected.”

Vela announced his candidacy for the vice presidential office as Flores’ running mate on his Facebook profile, but the two created a Facebook page that is public, these actions could both constitute as campaigning as they are furthering the likelihood of election.

The election rules and regulations define campaigning as “any activity by a candidate that has a primary purpose of furthering the candidate’s likelihood of being elected, or by an individual that has a primary purpose of furthering the defeat of or passage of a referendum, an initiative, or a candidate.”

“Attention All CMU Students: I am pleased to announce my candidacy to be the next Associated Student Government Vice President, with my running partner Beau Boombastic for the next ASG President. I look froward to sharing our campaign, but in the meantime like our campaign page Flores Vela and stay tuned for an announcement from us!” Vela’s post said.

It is unknown how ASG’s Supreme Court will respond to the possible violation but the election rules and regulations state that any violation will be met with the immediate disqualification of the candidates.

It is unknown to The Criterion at this time if there are any other candidates for president and vice president.

Lauren Lipski contributed to this report.