On Feb. 11, the For U ticket, running for student body president, vice president and treasurer, pled liable to a minor infraction of campaigning before permitted and served a two-day ban on campaigning.
With election season comes extensive campaigning from competing tickets. This year, the University of Miami has two tickets hoping to be elected.
One is the UNITED campaign, led by presidential candidate Jaell-Ann (JJ) Auguste, vice presidential candidate Alex Barrowclough and treasurer candidate Grace Wheeling. The other is the For U campaign, led by presidential candidate Fernando Sepulveda Sagaseta, vice presidential candidate Aaron Gonzales and treasurer candidate Dylan Hall.
As stated in the Supreme Court Trial Court Opinion, Sepulveda Sagaseta and Hall attended a National Pan-Hellenic Council meeting on Feb. 5, sparking discussion about whether this meeting violated campaign rules.
According to the official documentation from Trial Court, complaints argued that Sepulveda Sagaseta’s attendance at the meeting violated Chapter IV, Title 5, Section 3, Clauses 1 and 6 of the Election Codes. These clauses outline that tickets may only start campaigning on the official date listed in the Elections Calendar, and that “campaigning at student organizations meetings, including Greek Life … is permitted with the approval of the meeting organizer and the Elections Commission.”
At Trial Court, Sepulveda Sagaseta discussed that this “meeting was pursuant to his official duties as Student Government Chief of Staff,” but he acknowledged that Hall’s presence and the topics discussed could appear as a violation.
A source sent an anonymous tip to The Hurricane, claiming that Sepulveda Sagaseta discussed initiatives including “improving the relationship between Student Government and Greek Life, supporting NPCH through organizational plaques, suite upgrades, and SAFAC account access for each organization.”
While both parties are allowed to campaign at club and organization meetings around campus, they are limited to certain dates, as stated in the University of Miami Student Government Statutes.
“Over the first few days of campaigning, our team was accused of multiple violations. As part of the standard process, all allegations are reviewed by the Elections Commission, and only one was ultimately forwarded for further review,” Sepulveda Sagaseta said in a statement to The Hurricane.
Sagaseta stated that after speaking with their Student Government advisor, the team decided to accept the minor violation in order to continue campaigning on Thursday, Feb. 12.
“Since then, we have taken additional precautions and have been in close communication with election leadership to ensure full compliance with all campaign regulations,” he said.
According to the Student Government Statutes, in order for the Elections Commission to take action, the submission of a violation must “contain a complaint; have been filed against a current candidate, ticket, or referenda sponsor; be associated with at least one of the infractions outlined in Title 6, Section 1 of the Election codes and; contain accompanying evidence.”
Once this occurs, the Elections Commission reserves the right to establish some sort of penalty based on the type of infraction. The categories for an infraction include a Major Infraction, Minor Infraction or Automatic Disqualification.
A penalty is decided at the discretion of the Trial Court, assuming the Elections Commission has established an infraction occurred. All Trial Court decisions can be found in the University of Miami Student Government’s Public Records.
“The UNITED Ticket has consistently upheld a fair election,” UNITED said in a statement to The Hurricane. “These sanctions do not extend to the UNITED Ticket, and we have remained dedicated to the student body we seek to represent. Our ticket is committed to collaborating closely with all branches of student government to ensure that election violations are thoroughly investigated and appropriately addressed.”
Voting will take place from Monday, Feb. 16, until Wednesday, Feb. 18. Students will be able to vote through Engage for online voting, or in the UC Breezeway from 12:30-3:30 p.m. for in-person voting.
Katie Karlson contributed to the reporting of this article.