2008 Woodie Awards
Court upholds Brown's election fraud conviction
Constitutional Council determines candidate's actions violated code
Jackie Alexander
Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: News
Updated 1:45 a.m. - Presidential candidate Alesha Brown's elections fraud conviction was upheld by a majority decision released by the Constitutional Council shortly after midnight on Thursday.
Brown, a third-year political science student, was found guilty of election fraud Monday for raffling off a $50 Blackberry cell phone using "Vote Brown for President" raffle tickets.
Brown appealed, arguing that there was no promise of a vote in exchange for a cell phone.
The council upheld the Elections Commission's earlier ruling in its entirety.
The code that Brown allegedly broke prohibits "procuring, by the payment, delivery or promise of money, or other article of value, another to vote for or against any particular candidate or measure at any election."
In the opinion, the council said that although Brown's argument about the word "promise" was valid, the "court has found that the term 'promise' is defined as an express assurance on which expectation can be based without any reciprocal action from the voter."
"Upon receiving a numbered flyer and explanation of its purpose as a raffle ticket, it can be inferred that a reasonable voter would have been assured of the expectation to potentially receive the prize of the raffle, a cellular phone," the council wrote. "In the spirit of this election code, this assured expectation constitutes a promise on behalf of the candidate, and therefore meets the requirements of election fraud as defined in election code 410.05B."
The opinion also reveals that the Elections Commission discussed the possibility of disqualifying Brown. They later decided to assess her four out of five election violation points, one shy of disqualification, and restrict her campaigning hours on Tuesday, the last day of elections.
Brown was not reached for comment.
To view the Constitutional Council's opinion in its entirety please click here.
For more on this developing story, please check DailyGamecock.com
Brown, a third-year political science student, was found guilty of election fraud Monday for raffling off a $50 Blackberry cell phone using "Vote Brown for President" raffle tickets.
Brown appealed, arguing that there was no promise of a vote in exchange for a cell phone.
The council upheld the Elections Commission's earlier ruling in its entirety.
The code that Brown allegedly broke prohibits "procuring, by the payment, delivery or promise of money, or other article of value, another to vote for or against any particular candidate or measure at any election."
In the opinion, the council said that although Brown's argument about the word "promise" was valid, the "court has found that the term 'promise' is defined as an express assurance on which expectation can be based without any reciprocal action from the voter."
"Upon receiving a numbered flyer and explanation of its purpose as a raffle ticket, it can be inferred that a reasonable voter would have been assured of the expectation to potentially receive the prize of the raffle, a cellular phone," the council wrote. "In the spirit of this election code, this assured expectation constitutes a promise on behalf of the candidate, and therefore meets the requirements of election fraud as defined in election code 410.05B."
The opinion also reveals that the Elections Commission discussed the possibility of disqualifying Brown. They later decided to assess her four out of five election violation points, one shy of disqualification, and restrict her campaigning hours on Tuesday, the last day of elections.
Brown was not reached for comment.
To view the Constitutional Council's opinion in its entirety please click here.
For more on this developing story, please check DailyGamecock.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 2
USC...TERRIBLE!!
USC...SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!
posted 2/21/08 @ 1:24 PM EST
Firstly, who are you people? Get a life and go do something productive with your life instead of bashing someone? You know how much balls it takes to run for anything in SG? So to all of you who says she is cheating GO KICK ROCKS!! Each candidate knows the rules and knows what not to do. (Continued…)
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