The student government’s judiciary body heard a case Monday in which a student condemned the “corrupted” senior class president race, an outcome he argued was swayed by the winning candidate affixing posters in violation of election rules.

UW senior Ryan Hughes filed the complaint against Joe Meeker, who won the position of senior class president by 64 votes in the Associated Student of Madison spring election.

Hughes said he noticed between six and eight “Joe Meeker for Senior Class President” posters on building columns of the Humanities building and one poster wrapped on a City of Madison light post.

According to Hughes, Meeker broke two ASM election rules that restrict candidates’ rights to hanging posters in certain areas on campus, which gave Meeker an unfair advantage over other candidates.

“To persuade 0.3 percent of the electorate wouldn’t take much,” Hughes said.

Meeker acknowledged the existence of these posters on building columns and one light post, but said he made a “reasonable mistake” considering the ambiguity of the language of the ASM election rules.

According to Meeker, he read the information packet for candidates and believed he had a good understanding of the rules and used them as a guide for his campaign operation.

Out of all the buildings where he placed his posters, Humanities was the lone exception where he posted not only on designated bulletin areas, but also on building columns.

Meeker explained to the judges his mindset while putting the posters in Humanities. 

“As a humanities student and a member of an a cappella group on campus, I have visited Humanities almost every other day for the last three years of school,” Meeker said. “The first thing I always see when entering Humanities is a column covered in posters affixed with tape.”

Based on his understanding of the ASM election rules, he apologized for making the mistake. He said he did not previously know about the poster on the city light post, which he said was placed there by his running partner.

Hughes argued the rules were clearly stated in an email from Student Election Commission Chair Mickey Stevens and added ignorance is no defense in this situation.

He also highlighted the seriousness of this offense.

“The fact that the outcome was corrupted is reason enough to disqualify in this clear cut situation,” Hughes said.

He also urged the judges to sanction disqualification of Meeker’s senior class president position instead of asking for an apology letter or fines because those remedies are merely “a slap on the wrist,” he said.

Meeker questioned the validity of Hughes’ claim, saying the seven posters had little effect on the election result given the totality of his campaign.

“I do apologize. My first thought when I was sent this brief was ‘man, I wish I hadn’t put those up there’ because I would have won anyway… but here we are,” Meeker said.

The result of the hearing will come out in about five days, according to Vice Chief Justice Kenny Ho.

The Student Judiciary will independently decide on a sanction after reviewing all the evidence presented by both parties.

Meeker said he is willing to apologize to anyone who might have been affected by his actions, but said disqualification is excessively harsh for someone who has never been in any other ASM campaign.

“I am very proud of the campaign I ran, and I never thought to cheat to act improperly,” Meeker said. “I cared about the rules and made an effort to follow them…it’s sad to think that after everything I had done…to have the entire enterprise punished as it has already been is disheartening.”