Twitter is going to be used for campaigning for the first time in the upcoming Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) elections, with some regulations.
“We’re taking a big risk allowing Twitter,” chief electoral officer Sunny Cohen said.
“In the years past, Twitter wasn’t as large as it is now. We knew that Twitter would be an issue in the election, and we thought it would be better to get out in front of it and set down some clear ground rules as opposed to letting people do what they wanted.”
The elections office plans to monitor candidates’ tweets to ensure they conform to all relevant election rules. To this end, the office has issued several rules for Twitter campaigning, including:
- Candidates must create new Twitter accounts, and begin with 0 followers.
- Candidates’ Twitter handles must include their names and which position they are running for.
- Executive candidates must include the name of their slate in their description.
- All Twitter accounts must be public.
- All election and campaign-related Tweets must have the hashtag #CUVOTE13
“As with almost any new policy, it is foreseeable that there will be some issues that arise,” Cohen said. “We will be dealing with issues on a case-by-case basis.”
