Three days into campaigning, a grievance has been filed against leaders of the United Oregon slate, alleging that members of the platform were bribing students to vote for them by offering them a shirt.
The grievance, filed by Ducks for a Difference Campaign Manager Andrew Rogers, provides five testimonies from students saying that they were bribed for their votes.
Four of the individuals testifying cited that they were approached on Monday afternoon between 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Kevin Post, one of the individuals who testified, said that he was approached by a female behind the United Oregon tent.
“She informed me that they had computers set up for me to log in and vote,” Post said. “I asked her if I could just have one of the T-shirts, but she told me that I had to log on and vote first. I asked her if I had to vote for them to get the T-shirt and she said that I did not, but they really hoped that I would. I got on the computer and voted, accepted my T-shirt and left.”
Vice presidential candidate Amy Jones also testified, swearing that she witnessed bribery as well.
“I watched and heard Nicholas Seymour approach a student on 13th,” Jones said. “He offered to take his name off their phone list and said, ‘I’ll give you a T-shirt if you vote for United Oregon right now.’”
The Emerald contacted Seymour, who is running for a two-year at-large PFC position, but he declined to comment.
The grievance cites Elections Rule 9.7 as being violated, which according to the Elections Rules (PDF) defines bribery as a “severe campaign violation.”
The consequences for such a violation are outlined in Elections Rule 9.7.1.
“Consequences may include, but not limited to, loss of all campaigning privileges including presence on the ballot, and, should sanctions be applied after election, removal from office,” the rules read.
The grievance has been filed with the Elections Board who will rule on the issue. Elections Board Coordinator Pat Chaney had no comment for this article.
Sam Dotters-Katz, the presidential candidate for the United Oregon slate had a chance to comment.
“I am running for president because these kinds of smear campaigns and dirty political tricks straight out of Karl Rove’s playbook have come to define ASUO elections and university politics,” Dotters-Katz said. “When the United Oregon slate wins this campaign, our student body can look forward to being represented by student leaders interested in solving problems facing our campus instead of engaging in race to the bottom politics.
Follow Ian Campbell on Twitter @MrCampbell17