With elections beginning in less than a week, two pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates have been disqualified from the presidential race, Associated Students announced Wednesday night. Both teams were notified this week that they had broken rules by announcing their candidacy via social media before campaign week, resulting in their disqualification, according to AS president Janine Marderian.

Campaigns promoted early through Twitter, YouTube

The two teams — Matt Fier with Ann Marie Cortez, and Chris McGee with Arianna Yates — utilized Twitter and YouTube, respectively, in ways visible to the public, though both teams highlighted those as mistakes.

Fier, a junior psychology major, was found in violation of the rules for a tweet he sent in response to Rick Warren earlier this week. Describing it as “slipping up,” Fier said he simply didn’t think about the tweet as campaigning.

McGee, a junior political science and business double major, was disqualified for publishing something on YouTube. He feels his decision was made “under a technicality — against the letter of the law, although not the spirit of the law.”

McGee’s video, which introduced the candidates for volunteers who may not have known one of the members of the pair, was posted on a private website, but viewable by the public on YouTube.

Guidelines for campaign set forth in application

The elections committee, which contains leaders in AS, decided after thought and prayer that the teams had breached the rules, according to an email from Marderian to the Chimes.

The guidelines regarding campaigning were specified in the application and a mandatory rules meeting. The candidate application explains: “Campaigning begins at 7 a.m. on Monday, March 19. Campaign materials, posters and any other published materials may not be put up before 7 a.m. on March 19.”

Fier was shocked when notified, having forgotten the tweet. He explained he didn’t do it “from a heart of trying to cheat the system,” which he said he believes AS understands.

McGee said he was notified about the video, apologized and removed it within half an hour, and was then told later that night he was disqualified. He initially questioned why the response was “to leap to disqualification.”

Both candidates had meetings with the elections committee to discuss the decision.

After his conversation with the elections committee, Fier said he “completely stands behind AS and their decision to cut us.”

In his meeting with the committee, McGee presented data to show that fewer than 10 people unrelated to the campaign viewed the video, which was only visible via search, in hopes of showing that the video was not for campaigning.

AS clarifies campaign guidelines

An email was sent out to all interested candidates in January to clarify what “published materials” may include. Laura Igram-Edwards, AS adviser, explained in the email that candidates were not to announce their intent to run or campaign platform in “publicly viewable places such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter” or any other public venue, according to an email sent to the Chimes from Marderian.

Disqualified candidates maintain positive attitudes

Despite the inability to run, both say they took away many good lessons from the experience. Both Fier and McGee were concerned about the people they let down through the disqualification, highlighting the work of their campaign volunteers.

Fier says he doesn’t have a plan for what’s next, but that his faith has grown as he considers numerous options for his future. Currently a Stewart senator, McGee still plans to continue serving in student-led initiatives next semester.

McGee encouraged students to continue to hold AS accountable as leaders, and become more involved the organization.

Marderian concluded her email with best wishes for the disqualified candidates.

“We are incredibly sad for these two teams, and we respect them so much for being excited and sincere about pursuing positions of leadership at Biola. My prayer for them is and will be that God grants them an extra measure of his peace and that they experience his love in new and profound ways over the next two weeks,” Marderian said.