Interpretation of law at issue

Two potential student body president candidates' challenge against fines by the Board of Elections could redefine the authority of the board and its role in elections.

Arguments made by Ashley Klein a potential candidate in a Student Supreme Court hearing Wednesday focused on the authority of the Board of Elections to interpret election law.

If the court rules in favor of Klein the board's ability to interpret the election law could be reduced to applying rulings by the court and explicit provisions spelled out by Student Congress.

That would eliminate one of the board's primary roles: deciding which actions by candidates break election laws.

Because the court must deliberate further and because members are law students and have exams soon Chief Justice Emma Hodson said the court might not be able to issue its decision until next semester.

Klein and Matt Wohlford another potential candidate are challenging a ruling the Board of Elections made Oct. 6 which found both in violation of elections law for holding campaign meetings and making comments to The Daily Tar Heel. The board fined them $40 each.

That fine is rooted in the board's interpretation of what constitutes public campaigning" which is what Klein is challenging with her case.

Klein argued that the board does not have the authority to interpret the Student Code.

""We're asking that you refine the Board of Elections' job"" Klein said to the court. They should administer decisions passed by yourselves and explicitly spelled out in the code.""

The board argued that their administrative rulings are guidelines for the board to follow"" not interpretations of the code.

""The BOE is left with a lot of undefined terms"" said Val Tenyotkin, vice chairman of the elections board. All of these things must be decided on a case-by-case basis.""

Tenyotkin argued that the board is clarifying existing passages in the code that often cause confusion.

He said regardless of the board's administrative ruling" Klein and Wohlford still broke election law" which states that public campaigning is against the code.

""There's one reason why we're here today"" Tenyotkin said. Someone decided to run for student body president and failed to look up the rules.""

The code defines private as ""anything not in the general view" not widely known" and not facilitated by University resources.""

Whether Klein's meetings in the Campus Y at the beginning of the year violate the code is another question the court will have to answer.

Following Klein's case" the Student Supreme Court held a pretrial hearing for Wohlford's case.

Wohlford is challenging the procedure the board went through when making its decision to fine.

As a result he asked to subpoena the entire board to be questioned by his campaign since the meeting was closed and there was no public record of what was discussed.

The court agreed to review the minutes from the meeting and will make a decision about whether to subpoena the board at a later date.

The court will not hear Wohlford's case until next semester.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.