The UF Supreme Court voted Friday to uphold the Election Commission’s decision to not order a cease and desist on Swamp Party campaign activities.
The Students Party appealed to the Supreme Court after the Election Commission ruled that Swamp Party presidential candidate Christina Bonarrigo’s candidacy announcement was within the allowed time period for campaign activity.
The court voted 4-2 and held no specific reason because the justices had different views on the wording of the election codes.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Matt Michel said the justices disagreed with the limits placed on campaigning and how the limit applied to the university versus federal and state laws.
Students Party counsel Christian Chessman pushed for the court to order an immediate cease and desist to the Swamp Party and Bonarrigo to end all campaign activities.
“My party needs to be protected from the comparative speech advantage,” Chessman said.
In order to issue a cease and desist complaint, the Students Party must prove the Swamp Party had a strong likelihood of a violation, and the campaign material must irreparably harm the offended party or candidate.
Swamp Party counsel Ryan Gilbert moved for sanctions against Chessman for frivolous complaints.
“The Swamp Party acted in good faith and tried to stay within the compounds of code,” Gilbert said.
Due to time sensitivity, the court will hear four other complaints Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center.
Contact Colleen Wright at cwright@alligator.org.
