Student Association elections at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee continued as scheduled Thursday despite debate over the removal of one of the two main parties from the ballot only days ago.
The UW-Milwaukee Student Association’s Independent Election Commissioner Dan Bahr, who is in charge of interpreting election laws, removed all 26 candidates from the Achieving Student Action through Progress party from the race.
The candidates were removed because of alleged actions that earned them demerit points beyond the 500-point limit for candidates on the ballot.
One source of the party’s demerit points was slanderous claims made in an opinion article in a student newspaper about Students United for Change, the party opposing ASAP.
According to Chris Ahmuty, executive director of Wisconsin’s American Civil Liberties Union, when slanderous claims are made against a party, the opposing party is held accountable.
The ACLU has been in contact with UW-Milwaukee and ASAP about concerns that the election rules pertaining to slander threaten freedom of speech.
Ahmuty called the election process a “sham” and said the rules are too vague and leave too much to the interpretation of the independent election commissioner.
The ACLU had poll watchers present yesterday and today to record any irregularities or problems, according to a statement.
“Students deserve a better introduction to democracy than what we’re seeing at UWM,” ACLU Student Alliance President Angela Lang said in the statement.
ASAP held a write-in campaign and handed flyers to voters with the names of the 26 removed candidates. Scott Dettman, an ASAP senate candidate who was among those removed from the ballot, said he believes the campaign is succeeding.
Dettman said he was concerned about the freedom of speech limitations and said ASAP’s efforts on the write-in campaign act as a voice for students.
“Whether it’s at the polling place or legally or through the media, students’ voices will be heard,” Dettman said.
He added he feels his party was unjustly removed from the ballot.
Ahmuty said a change in election rules is necessary. “We’ll certainly want to get the rules changed regardless of the elections results,” he said.
