Review board votes to allow gnome, snail on ISG ballot
Alina Dizik And Kristen Schorsch
The Daily Illini
The University Constitutional Review Board voted in favor of allowing Reform NOW executive candidates Mike Bullerman and Marcia Fuentes to run as a gnome and a snail on the Illinois Student Government ballot. However, the review board’s decision is not final and Student Election Committe will continue the decision Wednesday.
Fuentes and Bullerman can appeal the decision, said Matt Cheney, election committee chair.
The election committee had to decide whether the candidates can run based on last year’s bylaws, which allowed candidates to use nicknames, but with some restrictons, Cheney said.
Cheney said it is difficult to determine what a commonly used nickname is.
The candidates wanted to run under the names “Gordon T. Gnome Bullerman” and “Hale T. Snail Fuentes,” a throwback to last year’s election, where Shachar Meron, a former DI columnist and comic strip illustrator, ran under the name “Gordon T. Gnome Meron.” The two were characters from his comic strip Blue Rice.
Meron was disqualified from the election for spending more than campaign limits. Meron’s column and comic strip in the DI, in which he promoted his candidacy, were counted as advertising space.
The review board, which decides on the legitimacy of ISG decisions, discussed an appeal to a decision ISG made last week not to let Bullerman, senior in LAS, and Fuentes, junior in LAS, run as a gnome and a snail. The board comprises seven members and three alternates.
Fuentes said some people might know candidates by their nicknames, which might be beneficial.
Send letters to 
Printer-friendly version