Controversy hits student elections
Miller/Mallett file complaint against Adelman/Eiler
Members of the Dante Miller and Melissa Mallett campaign filed an emergency injunction Tuesday, claiming the Jeremy Adelman and Dan Eiler ticket was exploiting the Pulse concert to gain support for their campaign.
In response to the complaint, the NDSU Student Court of Justices convened on the matter Wednesday and ruled in favor of Miller/Mallett.
The complaint, filed by James Klein and Dean Lefor, who serve as adviser and strategist to the Miller/Mallett campaign, said that the Adelman/Eiler ticket “solicited students to their Memorial Union campaign booth by giving out tickets for the concert Pulse.”
Adelman said that the Pulse event, a free concert held Friday at NDSU, needed booth space to distribute tickets, so he and Eiler split their booth in half to make room. The two areas were kept separate, he said.
The complaint filed said the concert was exploited to gain student votes.
According to election code, under section 411, line item A, “Presidential and vice presidential expenditures may meet but not exceed $1,200.”
If an event is used to gain campaign support, election code says the candidates would have to include the event in their budget.
Pulse, a concert whose budget exceeds $90,000, would far exceed the $1,200 presidential/vice presidential campaign expenditure limit.
The complaint filed by Klein and Lefor asks that “maximum punishment be imposed for this campaign violation.”
Student Chief Justice Caitlin Pandolfo said that although the court ruled in favor of Miller/Mallett, a final verdict couldn’t be decided until two more additional hearings occur.
“ If it’s a really close (election), it could potentially put the Adelman/Eiler campaign out of contention,” Pandolfo said. “We aren’t allowed to make a decision on the punishment yet, either. It all matters if more things build up.”
The final ruling could potentially disqualify Adelman and Eiler from their presidential/vice presidential contention, Pandolfo said. Another possible outcome is the deduction of a certain percentage of votes.
The court will convene again at 6 p.m. Thursday in University Chambers.
The last meeting, where a final verdict could be announced, is set for 6 p.m. April 5 in the Peace Garden Room.
Student presidential candidate Dante Miller said the complaint wasn’t filed to harm the Adelman/Eiler ticket, but rather to insure a fair election takes place.
“ This complaint was filed due to the unfair utilization of a major event on campus,” Miller said. “The election code is in place to ensure that all tickets are given a fair and balanced opportunity to spread their message.”
Miller said the use of Pulse gave Adelman/Eiler an unfair advantage that could not be remedied.
“This is not dirty campaigning, nor is it mudslinging,” Miller said. “This is an attempt to have a fair campaign, which is what the students of NDSU deserve.”
Adelman denies that he or anyone affiliated with his campaign was exploiting Pulse to gain support.
“ I don’t think that we were soliciting votes at all,” Adelman said. “We had a lot of people testify that we didn’t.”
Adelman said he wasn’t notified about the complaint until early Wednesday morning, which came as a shock to him.
“ I was a little bit surprised that the claim was filed,” Adelman said. “Honestly, I wish that the Miller/Mallett campaign would have talked to us personally instead of (us) having to hear about it from a claim filed. I do wish that would have happened differently.”
Miller said he felt it was the duty of a third party to address Adelman on the issue rather than himself.
“ The reason we, nor anyone on our campaign team, did not approach the Adelman/Eiler team about the Pulse situation directly was because we didn’t want to come across as confrontational,” said Miller. “We really wanted a neutral third party to be able to help us out with this, which is why we asked the court to intervene. This is why the court is put into place to run the elections, to have a neutral third party.”
Mallett said the intentions for the complaint filed was simply so Pulse would have a separate booth, not to disqualify Adelman/Eiler. She hopes that a fair election will be the outcome of the complaint filed.
“It’s like recruiting people to come to your booth to vote,” Mallett said. “Even if they didn’t have any intention, that’s how it came across. It’s really upsetting for the people working at our booth because it’s hard to sit down here anyways and when you have people unfairly campaigning next to you it’s stressful.”
Jordan Halvorson, head of Pulse advertising, said one of the reasons they put Pulse tickets at the Adelman/Eiler booth was because they couldn’t secure a booth of their own.
“ Originally we were told we could hand out tickets in the ticket office, but because we don’t have a contract with Ticketmaster, we had to set up a booth,” Halvorson said. “We weren’t allowed to get any tables because they were filled for the week right before the actual event.”
Halvorson said that because he knew Adelman personally, he felt he could ask him to distribute tickets.
“ We knew Adelman because he had helped us with some stuff so we just asked if we could set up at his table,” Halvorson said. “We would have gladly sat at the same table as Miller/Mallett, but I didn’t know them. If they would have come up and asked, I would have totally set up there.”
Adelman said that although the complaint could cost his campaign some votes, he is happy that he is still able to continue with the election.
“ Overall I’m happy with the way it ended up,” said Adelman. “I never solicited votes, nor did I intend for that, and I don’t think we ever used it for that. I’m disappointed that we might lose some votes but I just encourage everyone to get out and vote and be educated on the candidates.”
Elections will be held April 4 and 5. Students can vote online at http://vote.ndsu.nodak.edu/.