Raffle draws complaints
A grievance was filed against the president of the College Republicans on Wednesday after someone said he told students they could enter a raffle to win an iPad 2 if they voted against the proposed ARC fee increase.
Joe Watson, ASUSU science senator and the individual who filed the grievance against Michael Rodgerson, said he was walking out of class at 1:20 p.m. Wednesday, when he passed voter booths with computers near the business building. One of those booths had three individuals at it, whom he said he recognized from the organization Students Against Academic Waste (SAAW). He said they were advertising a raffle for an iPad 2.
According to the grievance Watson filed, Watson filled out a raffle ballot without voting and was throwing that ballot into a bowl when Rodgerson stopped him.
“(Rodgerson) said, ‘Hey, uh, you have to vote no in order to enter the raffle.’ I replied, ‘No, you can’t make people do that,” Watson said. “‘There is something in state law that says any raffle has to be equally available for all people to enter.’ (Rodgerson) then said, ‘Show me where it says that and I’ll stop.'”
Following his confrontation with Rodgerson at that booth, Watson said he left to file the complaint.
The law Watson cited is Chapter 8, Section 103 of Utah’s Title 76, which discusses bribery and offering bribes as an offense against government administration. Watson said the actions of Rodgerson’s group were also in violation of USU election bylaws.
C. Daniel Smith, general manager at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club, said SAAW representatives called him, and he gave them permission to set up a voting station in the fitness club’s lobby. SAAW also advertised the raffle at the Sports Academy, Smith said.
Rodgerson said his group stopped the raffle immediately after finding out that the giveaway was potentially illegal.
“We were doing everything that we could to counteract how biased and how pushy the school has been on this fee, and when the school informed us that this could possibly be illegal, we stopped right away,” Rodgerson said.
Rodgerson said he, along with members of SAAW, were not at the booth to force students to vote against the ARC proposal or to exclude those wishing to vote for it, but to get students to vote in general. He said that not many students voted at the booth.
“Our perception is that most students don’t want this, but most students don’t vote as well, and so we were just trying to get them to vote now and vote then,” he said.
A grievance board meeting was held Wednesday at 5 p.m. to discuss the incident.
Members of the board refused to comment on the incident to preserve the integrity of the board.
Rodgerson said he was warned by the grievance board about the seriousness of the incident and was told that members of SAAW could not have any electronics at their booth Thursday.
Rodgerson said the raffle has been canceled, and SAAW is trying to determine an ethical use for the iPad 2.
He said he felt his group should have been rewarded, not punished, for getting more students to vote, which the university has consistently tried to do. The iPad 2, which was paid for by a grant given to SAAW, was to increase turnout, he said.
Watson said he’s remained fairly neutral on the ARC subject, but he does not condone such actions to manipulate a vote.
“If students are wanting the recreation center, that’s fine,” he said. “But to have someone do unethical behavior like that, that’s where I get offended, because essentially, with his one voice, he’s trying to manipulate it into 100 voices.”
“If students truly don’t want the recreation center, I am completely OK with that,” Watson said. “But I don’t like when people think that they have more power than they already do.”
– ariwrees@gmail.com