Judicial Board accepts petition to investigate election campaign violations

This post was updated Nov. 12 at 12:12 a.m.

The Undergraduate Students Association Judicial Board accepted a petition to rule on a newly elected officer’s alleged campaign violations during the fall special election, the board announced Sunday.

Undergraduate Students Association Council President Robert Watson filed a petition Wednesday to investigate allegations against newly elected general representative Orion Smedley for violating the election code during the fall special election. The petition was accepted by the judicial board in a memorandum released Sunday.

Smedley, a third-year physics student, faces allegations of improperly campaigning on the Hill. Smedley beat five other candidates in the fall special election, which was held to fill vacant seats on USAC. The judicial board postponed swearing in Smedley and fellow newly elected general representative Brandon Broukhim at USAC’s meeting Nov. 5, after the allegations surfaced.

Under normal circumstances, the USAC Election Board investigations committee would look into such alleged violations and administer appropriate consequences if they found the candidate to be in violation. However, with a majority of the election committee missing after several members of the board resigned last week, the judicial board will address the election board’s ability to handle this case first.

If the judicial board finds the election board unable to investigate the violations, it will review the allegations and conduct the investigation itself. The memo did not give a time estimate for when the board would decide.

General Representative 1 Eduardo Velazquez, who was elected in the spring, said he saw a flyer from Smedley’s campaign posted next to the elevator on one of Sproul Hall’s residential floors during the fall special election.

Candidates are banned from campaigning on the floors of residential buildings, which includes door-to-door campaigning in person and through printed material. Distribution of campaign material is not permitted on the Hill, according to the election code.

Velazquez said he did not pursue this matter at the time, because he said it would be stepping out of his boundaries as a council member, and the judicial and election boards are primarily responsible for elections.

Velazquez, a member of USAC’s Constitutional Review Committee, put forth an election code bylaw amendment at the Nov. 5 meeting to selectively swear in newly elected officers. Velazquez said the bylaw’s intent was to allow candidates who followed election code rules to be seated on the council as soon as possible, and not be held up while an investigation for those who might have violated the code proceeded.

In pictures acquired by Matthew Richard, a third-year political science student who ran against Smedley in the fall special election, Smedley appears to be distributing flyers in De Neve Plaza with an inflatable duck. Smedley said he was only walking back from campaigning on campus, and did not campaign on the Hill.

Smedley has denied claims of misconduct.

“I followed the election code. I’m not responsible for other people reading the older version of the code, or for their choice not to post (fliers),” Smedley said in an emailed statement to The Bruin.

If a candidate wishes to post campaign fliers on the Hill, they must submit their posters to the Residential Life Central Office, according to the election code. If the office approves, the posters will be distributed in public areas deemed appropriate by Residential Life.

“If approved, (campaign material) will be distributed throughout public areas as seen fit by the Residential Life. All designated campaign representatives will have equal access to posting in the residence halls,” the election code reads.

The election code states that campaigning on the Hill is also governed by regulations in the UCLA On Campus Housing Student Handbook. However, on-campus housing regulations state that only candidates of the undergraduate resident student government can campaign in the resident halls and suites, which would include posting campaign materials like fliers in the halls.

Former election board chair Kyana Shajari, who resigned during the USAC meeting on Nov. 5, previously said a candidate sent her a formal petition for Smedley’s alleged election code violations prior to the meeting.

When Shajari received the petition, the sender asked to remain anonymous. However, according to the election code, anonymous complaints are not accepted. The sender of the petition then retracted their complaint. Shajari said she does not think Smedley violated the election code.

“A few hours after the results were announced, I get an email with the same exact pictures that I was given in this original complaint talking about (Smedley’s) campaigning on the Hill,” Shajari said. “So, naturally, I’m really suspicious of this. And I’m like, ‘Okay, well, why weren’t these allegations given any weight or pursued more during the election by this person who submitted to me?’”

Velazquez said he thinks the election board could have still investigated the petition even if it was incorrectly formatted.

“It got to this point because these allegations were never investigated,” Velazquez said.