Along with announcing the candidates for Student Government executive offices, elections commissioners John Hladun, Ewan Thompson and Ashutosh Arora announced an injunction on campaign spending limits during the official candidates meeting on Thursday.
Emily "Emmie" Thompson and Reilly Arford are the candidates for student body president.
Abrianna Reeves, who is running on the Thompson Reaves ticket with Thompson, is the only candidate for vice president.
Jordyn Velez and Cameron Eubanks are running for speaker of the student senate.
Hannah Augsbach Lamma and Brandon Badinski are both running for student body treasurer, which returns to the ballot after being removed for 2022.
The injunction, issued by the Constitutional Council, prevents the elections commission from enforcing campaign spending caps created by a student senate bill earlier this year.
The spending cap bill was passed in the senate on Jan. 18 but was vetoed by Student Body President Reedy Newton later in the month, leading to the student senate overriding her veto on Feb. 1.
Senator Ian Herd, who was recently removed from the position of speaker pro tempore and is now running for student senate, filed a complaint with the Constitutional Council earlier Thursday. Herd said that as speaker pro tempore, he was bound to stand by the senate’s decision to enact the bill. After his recall, however, Herd said in a text to The Daily Gamecock that he wanted to pursue his belief "as a newly independent Senator" that the timing of the bill violated the Student Government constitution.
Legislation affecting the yearly elections must be in effect by Feb. 1. Herd challenged the legislation on the grounds that, because it was not signed by university President Michael Amiridis by the end of Feb. 1, the night the student senate voted to override Newton’s veto, it was not in effect by the deadline as defined in the codes.
Upon receiving the challenge, the Constitutional Council barred the elections commissioners from enforcing the bill until a trial could be held. A trial date has not yet been announced.
As the soft campaigning period began when the meeting was over, neither candidates for student senate nor executive positions are currently subject to spending limits on their campaigns. It is unclear whether the legislation will be enforced this election season.
An executive candidate debate open to the student body will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Russell House Ballroom, which will open hard campaigning.
Students can vote for the executive positions and senators from their college or school from Feb. 21 at 9 a.m. to Feb. 22 at 5 p.m.