The Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) chief electoral officer Saiyara Elahi issued verbal and written warnings for three electoral violations on March 16 and 17.
On March 16, Elahi issued Parshmeet Singh Juneja, an independent candidate running for president, his second warning for failing to use campaign hashtags in his Instagram account description.
Juneja could not be reached by the Charlatan for comment. He was also not present at the all-candidates debate.
Section 10.5 of the electoral code states that “tags for the official RRRA Instagram account (@rrra_cu) and the #RRRAElections2022 hashtag must not be hidden and be made clearly visible on all campaign messaging in stories, posts and descriptions of personal or campaign Instagram accounts.”
Another electoral offence was issued to Keana Cavero, a presidential candidate with the Team Thrive slate. Cavero was issued a written warning on March 17 for failing to make her Instagram account public during the campaign period, thus violating sections 10.3 and 10.5 of the electoral code.
Elahi stressed the importance of ensuring that candidates are not privately campaigning.
“That’s a big deal. If your account is private, that means you could technically campaign in a private manner to a certain amount of people,” Elahi said.
Cavero said she was in the process of making her Instagram account public for campaigning when someone noticed that her account was still private and she meant no harm in her mistake.
“What we usually do, just within the team, is send it to our group chat and make sure everyone has checked over a post to make sure we have all the right content and it’s not violating anything,” Cavero said.
Elahi said that although these violations may seem insignificant, it is important to reinforce the rules.
“It’s these minor things that help ensure the most transparency possible,” Elahi said. “If you don’t follow those procedural manners, they can escalate and create further problems down the line.”
Ryan Fitzsimmons, a presidential candidate from the now-defunct Energize slate, was issued a verbal warning for failing to use campaign hashtags in his Instagram account description, which violates section 10.5 of the electoral code.
Fitzsimmons told the Charlatan that as he was editing his Instagram bio, he accidentally deleted a campaign hashtag.
“I fully take responsibility for that and accept the offence for me,” Fitzsimmons said.
Brittney Badger, campaign manager for the Energize slate, was also issued a warning for failing to use campaign hashtags on her Instagram account.
Although the Energize slate is no longer running in the RRRA election, Fitzsimmons wished all of the current candidates good luck.
“Even though I am out of the election, I’m fully cheering everyone else on,” Fitzsimmons said. “I encourage everyone to vote for whoever they think will be best for the positions.”
Voting in the RRRA election is scheduled to take place virtually on March 21 and 22.
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
