Editor’s note: The below was sent to the Maroon in a letter earlier this week. Following the online publication of this letter on Thursday, April 18, the Elections and Rules Committee released a revision of it as a statement on the Student Government Web site. It can be found here.

The Elections and Rules Committee (E & R) would like to state that it is made of non-partisan election officers and that it exists solely to ensure a fair and clean Student Government election in the interest of the University. Recently, it has come to the Committee’s attention that the fulfillment of that goal has been jeopardized. We are referring particularly to the contents of an article published by the Maroon.

In holistically considering complaints, E & R takes careful note of several factors, including not only the content of the complaint, but also its context. Aspects of a given complaint considered may include its source and the extent to which the authenticity of the complaint can be verified. Thus, E & R deliberations concerning the ethical implications of each candidate’s actions and the issuing of non-punitive warnings and penalties are part of an exhaustively thorough process that is deliberately objective and fair. Since a range of punitive actions are at the disposal of the Committee, we reserve the right not to publicize information concerning penalties already assigned in consideration of the possible consequences of disclosing such information.

In the interest of fairness and the spirit of accountability, it is worth noting as it should have been done so in the Maroon article, that all of the allegations leveled against the Ignite Slate as of the article’s release were brought by a single rivaling slate. Said slate has been determined to have violated an agreement of confidentiality, as well as standards of ethics expected of any candidate running for Student Government.

We urge the student body to focus on the substantive content of the slates’ respective platforms and to make an informed choice during the voting period.

The Election and Rules Committee