Both James Allen and Daniel Hernandez were disqualified from the ASUA presidential race due to an excess amount of campaign violations.

Both candidates’ disqualifications, have forced a runoff election to be held at a later date.

Michael Colletti, the elections commissioner of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, said that both candidates had at least 10 violations of the ASUA elections code, which results in immediate disqualification.

Campaign violations can include items such as campaigning inside the ASUA offices or within 75 feet of a polling place on election day, or exceeding spending limits, according to the ASUA Elections Code. Spending limits for presidential candidates are set at $400. The code also contains provisions for the proper placement of posters and says the elections commissioner must approve all campaign-related social networking sites.

Colletti said he could not comment on the specifics of the violations.

Had the election stood, Allen would have won in a landslide, garnering 66.7 percent of the vote, more than double Hernandez’ total.

Allen said he did not know what election violations he had committed, but said he was planning to appeal some of the decisions. He also attributed the number of violations to the competitiveness of the election.

“”It’s not good for the post (of president) for these sorts of violations to occur,”” Allen said. “”That was just the nature of the election this year.””

Allen also praised the elections commission for staying consistent with the code.

“”It’s good to know we have a critical and fair elections committee,”” he said.

Hernandez said it would be an “”interesting couple of weeks”” heading into the runoff election and that he planned to rededicate himself to turn around the result.

“”I just need to be making sure that when I’m out there (among the students) I’m giving it 100 percent,”” Hernandez said.

The disqualifications silenced an otherwise raucous crowd of approximately 200 in the Kiva Room of the Student Union Memorial Center, a crowd that had, just minutes before, been celebrating and mourning the election results.

Twin brothers Bryan and Brett Ponton claimed the offices of executive and administrative vice president, respectively. Brett Ponton served in the same position in ASUA last year. Bryan Ponton also worked in ASUA last year as a club advocate in the Club Resource Center.

Brett Ponton said he had worked “”110 percent”” to win reelection.

“”As you can probably tell from my sunglasses tan, I’ve been out on the (UA) Mall pretty much every day,”” he said, laughing.

When asked about working with his brother, Brett Ponton said it would be “”interesting.””

“”We were together before college and then we kind of diverged a bit, and now we’re coming together for our senior year,”” he said. “”I think it’s a fitting end.””