The Election Board recently received an election complaint about a post on Finance Board candidate Darrel Jean-Louis’ social media.
The complaint connects to a potential violation of Election Rule 8: “Any campaign method is allowed provided it does not violate any of these rules, any law, or any UMBC policy…”
As a part of the University Systems of Maryland (USM), UMBC is a public university funded through the state of Maryland and, as such, subject to “the laws of the State of Maryland, as well as the rules and regulations of UMBC and the University System of Maryland” (Constitution of the Student Government Association of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Article 1.4.A). Codified into Maryland’s Constitution in Article 1, Section 6 is a prohibition against offering “to give, directly or indirectly, any bribe, present or reward, or any promise, or any security … to procure a vote for any candidate or person proposed… for any office of profit or trust…”
This Maryland state law against bribing or rewarding an individual in return for their vote is one that Election Board adheres to for SGA elections.
The complaint alleged that Darrel “promis[ed] items in exchange for votes.” After careful review of the complaint and 2026 Election Rules/SGA Constitution/Maryland law, the Election Board voted to open an investigation of this complaint.
The Election Board obtained a screen shot showing that Darrel posted in his social media, “Free suya for whoever votes Darrel js lmk.” As a result of this information, Election Board voted that Darrel had violated Rule 8 and imposed the following sanctions:
- A 24-hour suspension of campaigning on Darrel’s campaign accounts, starting from 12:01am on April 16th until 12:01 on April 17th.
- The posting of an Election Board-approved public statement acknowledging the violation and recognizing the misconduct by 4pm on Thursday, April 16th.
The Election Board wants to reiterate that any student who believes that they have witnessed an Election Rules violation should report a complaint to the Election Board, remembering that complaints must be filed by 48 hours after an alleged violation is discovered OR by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, April 19th-- whichever is earliest.