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Bruins United may have violated USAC election code

By Audrey Kuo

May 6, 2009 11:47 p.m.

CORRECTION: This article was updated to include a statement from Roxana Pourshalimi.

Bruins United candidates and campaign members may have violated the policies of the Elections Board of the undergraduate student government by speaking with voters as they were in the process of casting their ballots.

Hillel at UCLA organized an event from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Students were invited to eat free pizza and have “the opportunity to ask the candidates questions about the Bruins United mission,” according to the Facebook page for “Join the (Pizza) Party: Bruins United @ Hillel!”

The Bruin sent a reporter to the event after receiving a tip that possible violations had occurred at similar Hillel events in previous years.

Two other Bruin staff members were sent to confirm details after the first reporter was guided to the computer lab on the second floor of Hillel to vote.

The Bruins United members who were involved denied that there was any wrongdoing or any policy violations.

Each of the Daily Bruin staff members had a different experience with Bruins United supporters and candidates, though each was encouraged to vote.

The policy of the Undergraduate Students Association Council Elections Code prohibits campaigning as long as “someone … is in the process of voting, provided that the campaigner is made aware that the member of the Association is voting.”

The third Daily Bruin reporter arrived at Hillel around 7:30 p.m., where she was asked repeatedly if she had voted. After she responded that she was there for pizza and had not voted, Bruins United volunteer Roxana Pourshalimi handed her a laptop.

Pourshalimi guided the staff member to the Bruins United Web site and to MyUCLA, reaching over to click on the pink voting icon at the top of the page.

Several volunteers encouraged the reporter to watch videos featuring Bruins United candidates.

When the reporter reached the section to vote for internal vice president, she also had Bruins United candidate Sharona Daneshrad’s information up on the laptop screen.

The reporter said Daneshrad approached at that point, introduced herself and thanked the reporter for attending and for voting.

The reporter also said that because volunteers were cleaning up around her, she offered to leave and vote elsewhere.

She said three students wearing Bruins United shirts encouraged her to stay and finish voting. Bruins United member Boris Lipkin handed her a flier listing the members of that group’s slate, telling her the flier might help.

As the reporter had her MyUCLA voting page open to vote on the PLEDGE referendum, Pourshalimi asked her what she knew about it.

Pourshalimi told a reporter that in her opinion, student groups ““ including The Bruin ““ were asking for too much money and that there were other ways to meet budgetary concerns.

Pourshalimi reiterated to the reporter that what she said was her own opinion and that others probably had different opinions.

PLEDGE, if passed, would raise student fees to support campus organizations, including Student Media UCLA, which publishes the Daily Bruin.

In an interview, Pourshalimi denied clicking on the voting icon for the Bruin reporter. She said her laptop was “sitting on the table the entire time” and she pointed out the icon because the reporter seemed confused.

Pourshalimi said that she asked the Bruin reporter about PLEDGE because she “seemed clueless.”

“I told her what it is. I can’t remember if she asked me what I thought, but I told her my opinion,” Pourshalimi said. “Now that I look back, I shouldn’t have.”

Pourshalimi also denied attempting to sway the reporter’s vote, saying she was “just informational.” She added that she was not acting on behalf of Bruins United, but “on behalf of a student who’s pretending she doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

After being informed of the reporters’ accounts, Bruins United presidential candidate Jesse Rogel and internal vice presidential candidate Daneshrad both denied any wrongdoing.

Rogel said allegations of any policy violations should be addressed to the Elections Board.

“When you think there’s a violation, you go through E-Board,” he said. “We have a lot of sanctions that have already been proven through Students First!”

Rogel declined to comment on specific sanctions or policy violations by the other slate. “We don’t publish articles every time we file a sanction,” he said.

Daneshrad agreed she had approached the reporter: “I saw my face there, so I said, “˜Ha ha, that’s me.’ … I definitely didn’t see anyone voting.

“I know a lot of people were looking at the BU Web site,” she added. “We have a really cool Web site and a video.”

Lipkin disagreed with the reporters’ accounts. “There were no voting irregularities at Hillel tonight,” he said.

Hillel president and former USAC General Representative Michelle Lyon said the event was planned entirely by Hillel ““ which has endorsed Bruins United ““ and had “nothing to do” with specific candidates.

“I called them and said, “˜We want to educate individuals in our community about candidates we endorsed, and you are welcome to come by and bring information and eat pizza.'”

Asked to respond to what the reporters experienced, Lyon said, “To my knowledge none of that happened. No one talked to me about that, and no one says that’s how they’d be handling the event, so I have nothing to say.”

At first, Lyon said there was “no bloc voting” and “students had no access to computers.”

Asked about the laptops present at the event, she said, “They had access to computers if they wanted it,” saying that students would be able to borrow friends’ laptops.

When asked about the reporters who had been encouraged to vote and log in while at Hillel, Lyon said Hillel’s computers are open to the public. She maintained that no one was forced to vote.

Along with Rogel and Daneshrad, Bruin staffers saw Megan Ward, a candidate for external vice president, and Lecia Rothman who is running for general representative.

Ward said she only stopped by with Rogel for 10 to 15 minutes to show her support for Hillel and answer questions.

“Nobody was instructed how to vote during the voting process,” she said.

Ward added that all allegations of misconduct should be directed to and handled by the Elections Board.

The first two Bruin staffers to attend the event at Hillel said they were both told they could use computers to vote.

The Daily Bruin reporter who arrived at 5:45 p.m. was encouraged to vote on two separate occasions.

The reporter said Pourshalimi first placed a laptop in front of her and encouraged her to vote.

Later, Lipkin led the reporter to Hillel’s computer lab and sat next to her. He instructed her to log on to MyUCLA and to click on the voting icon.

Lipkin agreed that he sat by the reporter but said that he looked away after guiding the reporter to MyUCLA.

“Nobody was told which buttons to click,” he said. “No one was told to vote for specific candidates.”

The second Daily Bruin reporter, who arrived around 7:15 p.m., was approached by a Bruins United campaign member and told the labs were open for voting.

She said she was not instructed to vote for Bruins United, and she was not accompanied to the computer lab.

Originally, Daneshrad said she was the only candidate present at the event.

“There is a computer lab in Hillel, and it is an off-campus place. I was the only one there,” she said. “There was no forced vote.”

Later, Daneshrad said Rogel had also been present, but only for five minutes. She said she did not remember seeing any other candidates.

Mallory Wang, the chair of the Elections Board, said she could not comment on Wednesday’s event because no formal complaints had been filed. The board can only start an investigation if a complaint is lodged.

With reports from Kate Stanhope, Elise Swanson and Diana Bizjak, Bruin senior staff.

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