Campaign Conduct

1. Campaigning shall be defined as the dissemination of printed material (excluding editorial matter in student publications), commercial ads in student publications, and public speeches and displays for or against any candidate, slate, Special Fee request, General Fee issue, or ballot measure. The seeking of signatures for a petition shall not be considered campaigning. The actions of any officer of the Association, done in the course of discharging his/her duties, shall not be considered campaigning. Private conversations, letters, or messages shall not be considered campaigning.

2. No candidate, slate, or sponsor shall substantially violate University rules while campaigning, even if the conduct in question would otherwise appear to be permissible under this Code. This would include, but not be limited to, the Campus Disruption Policy, phone harassment, or misuse of academic and informational resources (including computer resources). The Hearings Officer shall investigate alleged violations.

3. Campaigning shall begin 168 hours before the opening of the earliest on-campus polls. Campaigning at any other time shall be grounds for disqualification.

4. No candidate, slate, or sponsor shall use any Association resources for campaigning purposes unless all candidates, slates, and sponsors have equal access to these resources and such access is announced in the Code or by ruling of the Commission. Banner paper and markers shall be made available for free by the Elections Commission under the supervision of the Hearings Officer to candidates, slates, and sponsors for legitimate campaign uses in reasonable quantities. Failure to obey this provision shall be grounds for disqualification.

5. No candidate, slate, or sponsor shall interfere with the campaigning of any other candidate, slate, or sponsor, nor shall they interfere with the dissemination of information by any student publication. Failure to obey this provision shall be grounds for disqualification.

6. All campaign materials must bear the name of the candidate, slate, or sponsor which has published it. Failure to obey this provision shall be grounds for disqualification. However, campaign material issued by a student organization in support of its request for a Special Fee and which is clearly identified with the name of the issuing organization need not also bear the sponsor's name.

7. No campaigning consisting of public speeches or displays shall take place in, immediately before, or immediately after, any class; in any library (excluding lobby areas); in the public computer terminal areas of any building (provided however that this shall not be interpreted to prohibit the sending of private, individually composed electronic mail transmissions to acquaintances of the sender); or in the laboratory areas of any building (except with the consent of the occupants). No campaigning consisting of the dissemination or posting of printed material (excluding editorial matter in student publications) shall take place in any classroom, library (excluding lobby areas), or lecture hall.

8. Posting of Campaign Material
   1. No campaign material may be affixed in any manner to trees, shrubs, lights, or signs.

   2. No campaign material may be affixed in any manner to any building, wall, or pillar that is part of the Inner or Outer Quad.

   3. The Commission shall request, in a timely manner, from all residences and academic departments and schools any limitations on the placement of campaign material in their area. Any limitations approved by the Commission and prominently posted by the concerned residence/department/school in the appropriate area shall be issued as a ruling of the Commission.

   4. All candidates, slates, and sponsors are responsible for removing their campaign materials by 5:00 p.m. three days after the polls have closed unless involved in a contested or otherwise unresolved election.

   5. A pattern of repeated, intentional violations of these provisions shall be grounds for disqualification.

9. Campaigning on Election Days
   1. Prior to the opening of each polling site, the poll watchers shall remove all campaign materials from within one hundred and fifty feet of the polling site.

   2. No person on election days, shall, within one hundred and fifty feet of the rooms in which ballots are being cast:
      1. Circulate an initiative, referendum, recall, or nomination petition or any other petition relating to ASSU activities.

      2. Solicit a vote or speak to a voter on the subject of marking her/his ballot.

      3. Place any material relating to candidates' qualifications or speak to a voter on the subject of the candidates' qualifications.

10. Any action of a candidate, slate, or sponsor to influence the casting of votes at an overseas campus once the results of the preliminary tally have been announced shall be grounds for disqualification.

11. Any attempt by a candidate, slate, or sponsor to subvert or unethically influence the election shall be grounds for disqualification.

12. Any actions of a candidate, slate, or sponsor that impede an elections officer in the discharge of his/her duties shall be grounds for disqualification.

13. Any actions of a candidate, slate, or sponsor that impedes the normal operations of the University shall be grounds for disqualification.

14. Any deliberate violation of any ruling of the Commission shall be grounds for disqualification.

15. A plea of ignorance shall not be considered a valid defense to an infraction of any rule as specified in the Code or as a ruling of the Commission.

16. Disqualifications may only be based on rules specified in the Code or on rulings of the Commission. However, the Hearings Committee shall have the discretion to determine the applicability and enforceability of rulings of the Commission.