An anonymous person filed Nov. 19 a complaint against Student Government Vice President-elect Paul Grever for campaigning inside Mary Graydon Center before the polls closed, but the Board of Elections determined at a hearing the same day that Grever did not violate any policy, according to SG Board of Elections Chair Amy McConnel.
"Members of the board heard the complaint and Paul's response and determined that he was not responsible for the activity," she said in an e-mail. "Therefore, he received no penalty and won the election."
McConnel said she learned about the situation around 4:30 p.m. the day of the election. She then became the spokesperson for the complainant because the original complainant wanted to remain anonymous.
An anonymous source from within the SG identified the original complainant as one of the special election candidates.
The controversy started when a group of people in the Marketplace area of MGC began telling students to vote for Grever in the special election, Grever said in an e-mail.
The complainant claimed Grever was sitting with the group of people and that they were his friends, the source said. The group had a laptop set up and asked people if they had already voted in the election. According to the complaint, if a person had not, the group encouraged the person to vote on the computer for Grever, he said.
Grever apparently was not there when his friends were asking people to vote, but he was there with them when they had the computer set up at some point, the source said. It is not clear how long Grever was with the group, he said.
Grever denied any connection to the illegal campaign activity.
"I did not have a campaign staff, I never asked anyone for help during my campaign and I did not recruit anyone to be a part of my campaign," he said in the e-mail. "The students who were gathered in MGC were working of their own free will with no direction from me."
Board members went downstairs to examine the situation after learning of the complaint, the source said. They did not see Grever inside MGC but spotted him outside of the building. They did see a group of people inside the building asking people if they had voted, he said.
Article IV, Section ii of the SG's election regulations states, "No campaigning is permitted inside the Mary Graydon Center, Bender Library, Bender Arena, Jacobs Fitness Center, on the AU shuttle or at any shuttle stops at any time or in any manner."
Each candidate is responsible for the actions of all persons working for him and for ensuring they abide by the rules governing elections, according to Article V, Section i of the election regulations.
Board Vice Chair Emily Ann Kokol; Madeline Karp, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs who is a member of the board; and Barron John Weyerhauser, a Class of 2008 senator with no involvement in any campaign, heard the complaint, according to McConnel.
"Because the complainant wanted to remain anonymous, I acted as the 'complainant' and took no part in the deliberations [at the hearing]," she said in an e-mail.
At least three people needed to hear the case, but only two people from the board - Karp and Kokol - were available at that time. SG rules allowed McConnel to appoint additional members to the board, so she decided to appoint Weyerhauser, McConnel said.
"We believed that Barron would make for an impartial and knowledgeable member, as he proved to be," she said. "Also, his other involvement in the SG does not disqualify him from being a BOE member as he was not involved in any way in any of the special election campaigns."
While election regulations entitle a candidate to 48 hours of preparation time before the hearing, Grever waived this right. McConnel spoke to Grever about the situation just before 5 p.m., she said.
Grever also created a Facebook group before the nominating convention, though he resolved this violation through mediation, she said.
Candidates are not allowed to create a Facebook campaign group until after the nominating convention, according to Article IV, Section vi of the election regulations.
"He agreed to remove the Facebook group by the opening of polls," McConnel said.
SG President Joe Vidulich referred comments to McConnel and the Undergraduate Senate, which has the responsibility to confirm election results presented to them by the Board of Elections.
"The hearings themselves are confidential," he said.
School of Public Affairs Sen. Andrew MacCracken said he trusts the board's judgment.
"It is the role of the BOE to determine whether or not the campaigning was legal, so it is not my place to make that decision regarding this issue," he said in an e-mail. "If the election results aren't skewed, this is not an issue I should take great concern over based on my role in SG."
Grever's election certification will go before the senate this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in Kogod 118.
Eagle Staff Writers Lauren Gardner and Jimm Phillips contributed to this report.
