BOE: Get your act together; The only thing consistent about this year's BOE has been inconsistencies

The Board of Elections has remained vigilant in its quest to foul up this year's student elections. The board has often misinterpreted the Student Code and contradicted itself on various rulings.

Interpretation

Val Tenyotkin vice chairman of the board" dismissed claims that the Student Code could be wrongly interpreted in a September interview with The Daily Tar Heel.

""Last time we ­— and by we" I mean I — reviewed it" I saw very little room for interpretation.""

Yet last week" when the board surprised campaigns by outlawing classroom and dorm signature-gathering Tenyotkin said the decision to restrict dormstorming was not a change to election laws" but a different interpretation of the Code.

""Every BOE makes its own rules. … This is what we think right now" and future boards could think differently" Tenyotkin said.

New, and arbitrary, rules

The board delighted in unveiling a series of nuanced and non-substantive rules for gathering petition signatures. These rules were so confusing that a normally half-hour mandatory candidates meeting took more than two hours.

And, the board chairman and vice-chairman disagreed about their interpretation the next day.

Board Chairman Ryan Morgan called the DTH with corrections to a Frequently asked campaign questions"" box on Thursday's front page. Tenyotkin identified to the DTH different errors than Morgan.

When the DTH called Morgan back to figure out whose version to trust" he said Tenyotkin didn't fully understand the nuances of all the regulations which are for only the chairman to interpret.

Facebook

The board also failed to correctly interpret the legality of pre-campaign Facebook groups.

In November the board warned one potential student body president for creating a public Facebook group but issued no fine.

Yet in January after many Facebook groups were discovered by the DTH" the BOE announced that these ""private"" Facebook groups were legal and campaigns would not be fined.

Ryan Morgan" Board of Elections chairman" noted that these ""private"" groups are no different from speaking privately with campaign workers" which is legal according to the code.

But equating these private Facebook groups one of which had more than 500 members to speaking privately with campaign workers is merely semantics.

Media regulations

The board has been inconsistent on the legality of candidates' interaction with the media.

Two potential candidates that spoke to the DTH in August were fined by the board. Yet last week when several potential candidates spoke to the DTH no fines were levied.

All remarks to the DTH were made before campaigning was officially allowed yet fines were levied on only one occasion.

The board has made a series of mistakes this election season — but the campaigns have just begun. The board can still make up for some of its past rulings by acting consistently and legally during the last few weeks of the campaign season.