Tufts Election Commission (ECOM) last night released a statement ruling that junior Sam Wallis, a candidate for Tufts Community Union (TCU) president, violated campaign expenditure rules by flying back to Tufts from Israel, where he was studying abroad.
ECOM further ruled that Wallis is banned from spending any additional campaign funds.
Wallis, however, told the Daily that he was not informed of this ruling, which he maintained was inconsistent with his previous conversations with ECOM.
"The statement ECOM has made public completely contradicts everything we've been told by ECOM, and they have not been available at all to discuss this with us," he said. "… Had we not spoken with a reporter at the Daily we would have no idea what ECOM was doing."
He intends to move forward with an appeal of the ruling and a complaint against ECOM to be heard by the TCU Judiciary.
Wallis last week decided to return to Tufts to help out his campaign team and to address his lone opponent Lauren Levine, also a junior, in person at Wednesday's presidential debate.
ECOM decided that in doing so, Wallis exceeded the $750 campaign-expenditure limit.
"The spending limits include all campaign-related activities; given his own public affirmation that his decision to come back to Tufts last week was campaign related, the money spent on his plane ticket is considered a campaign expense," ECOM said in a statement forwarded to the Daily by chair Sharon Chen, a sophomore.
Chen declined to comment further when presented with Wallis' questions and complaints about the ECOM statement.
Wallis questioned why ECOM released an official ruling on an unresolved matter and contested the validity of the statement, given that there was no official hearing.
"No formal complaint was filed, and no formal hearing was convened," Wallis said. "Furthermore, if this was ECOM's decision, they would be unable to make this public because it would involve an ongoing appeals process."
He further explained that the statement was not in line with what ECOM had led him to believe.
"[ECOM] specifically stated to both campaigns that this would be resolved between the two campaigns and that ECOM would not be making a statement because no formal hearing was ever convened," Wallis said.
ECOM's statement maintained the decision was necessary for preserving the integrity of the election.
"We understand that this is a controversial decision and stress our goal [of] maintaining a fair election," the statement said. "To not act would be to establish a precedent allowing excessive personal spending by presidential candidates."
Wallis feels ECOM's actions hurt the election.
"By their statement, ECOM has compromised the integrity of this election for both campaigns, because they have been inconsistent toward both sides, and has compromised the impartiality of the commission," Wallis said.
Wallis also questioned ECOM's decision itself.
"If this proves to be ECOM's decision … then ECOM is preventing the 50 percent of students who go abroad from running," Wallis said. "I don't see how both candidates being on campus provides an unfair advantage to either … restricting an individual's ability to campaign for president in person, on campus, sets a damaging precedent."
ECOM's statement maintains there are no exceptions to the rules, even if the candidate is abroad.
Wallis' decision to fly back to Tufts had caused some controversy, which surprised senior Adam Weldai, Wallis' campaign manager.
"It shows the appropriate amount of respect and the appropriate amount of care for the position and for the campaign," Weldai said.
"It was not an easy decision to come back," Wallis said. "The purpose was not to show that I could outspend; the feeling that I needed to be here with my team outweighed the financial aspect of it."
Levine declined to comment on the matter.
