Brandon Wallingford was given an electoral offence Feb. 9 after posting messages on an unofficial Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) Facebook group, according to CUSA’s chief electoral officer (CEO).
Wallingford, a current Faculty of Arts and Social Science councillor running for re-election, violated section 12.20 of the electoral code, which requires candidates “to campaign in a fair and respectable fashion, as defined by the Carleton University Human Rights Code,” according to CEO Sean Finn.
He also violated sections 7.0 and 10.0 of Carleton’s human rights code, Finn said.
The violation was issued after messages appeared on an unofficial CUSA Facebook page under Wallingford’s name, Finn said.
The messages, which were obtained by the Charlatan, show Wallingford asking the members not to campaign on the group. Another screenshot then shows him asking a poll question about the current election.
In addition, Finn said the violation included a message Wallingford posted about current CUSA executives, including CUSA vice-president (internal) Ariel Norman.
“It seems Sarah Cooper and her friends Ariel Norman and Karim Khamisa are worried they won’t be able to rig this [year’s] election by stuffing ballots so are trying to take us back to court to stop the online elections . . .” the message read.
Wallingford defended himself, saying he believes no offence was committed.
“I don’t think I violated any of the rules,” Wallingford said. “I think that the CEO is broadly interpreting something he shouldn’t be, and I don’t think that it’s in the mandate of the CEO to do this.”
“I think it’s highly inappropriate,” he added. “I’m going to be challenging it on a number of bases.”
The offence would be Wallingford’s first, and would constitute as a general warning, according to Finn. A second offence would see Wallingford lose the money he could be reimbursed for the campaign, and a third violation would mean disqualification.
Wallingford is one of 20 candidates running for seven FASS councillor seats. Campaigning for this year’s CUSA elections began Feb. 8. Voting will take place Feb. 15-16 and results will be announced Feb. 17.
