Presidential Elections Part 3.

So the shit has hit the election fan. My joke, my comical quasi-not-really-if-you-read-the-fine-print campaign is taking on a life of its own, ruffling feathers, creating confusion, stoking a little bit of drama, and otherwise raising questions about the SBA Constitution and potentially eventually free speech.

I get to school today and the Sports and Entertainment Law guys had placed about 10-12 posters, all bearing my name, around the school.

The SBA election rules state that a candidate can only have 4 posters total, and that a candidate is responsible for all posters bearing his name. Even if a 3rd party put them up, you are responsible for those posters because that person became your agent upon using your name, and those posters count against your total. A violation of this rule is grounds for disqualification from the race.

Well, I don't know a whole lot about agency law, but I find it hard to believe that anyone can become my agent by merely putting my name on the damn poster. If that was the case, and I was actually running, I would (on the sly) tell someone to put up 100 posters with my opponent's name, rely on the plain and ordinary understanding of the election rules, and request they be disqualified.

In any event, Darth President and his Viceroy (otherwise known as the officially unopposed candidate) are none too pleased with the posters that were put up on my behalf because they lack the fine print language making clear that I'm not actually running for President. The Viceroy has made clear that the joke has gone too far, that he considers me "in the race" and that I need "to play by the rules." I tried convincing him that playing by "the rules" was only important if I actually was running, which I'm not. He's irritated, frustrated because people aren't taking the system serious and that at how my "campaign" is moving beyond my direct control.

I found the problem in the SBA Constitution just now. The Constitution provides that eligibility for office is based on gathering 25 student signatures and a letter of academic good standing from the Registrar, and submitting both forms to the President before the candidate registration due date. "Write in" candidates are allowed, but they must have satisfied all the form-requirements of a regular candidate, and submitted the forms to the President prior to the commencement of voting. This creates an opportunity for anyone who missed the first deadline to still be eligible for office, and still be allowed to campaign, but their name will not appear on the ballot.

So the big fuck-up of it all is that Darth President misapprehended the SBA Constitution and assumed "write ins" could be added to the ballot, regardless of whether that person had submitted the proper forms or not. When the first vote was cast, and no write-ins had submitted the proper forms, eligibility was set and it was pointless to include a write in section on the ballot. I am Constitutionally barred from holding an elected office on the SBA, so is anyone else not currently listed on the ballot. But because they have so clumsily handled it, I am operating in this strange limbo where it is not totally clear (to them or most anyone else) whether I am allowed to have posters up or not.

Furthermore, I'm still taking this lightly, all fun and games for me. But if push comes to shove, it's total bullshit if they try to restrict a 3rd party's political speech, regardless if they act in my name or not.

I recognize that all of this is, to a large extent, petty, inconsequential, obnoxious, and silly. But it really only became that when the SBA started taking the joke serious and failed to realize that my "campaign" can have absolutely no real impact on the outcome of the election.