2010 CUSA Election Timeline
Jan. 25
The nomination period begins and candidates are unleashed on the student body with clipboards in hand. Several students immediately get an electoral warning for early campaigning regarding a Facebook group entitled “Carleton Students Against the Mandatory UPass.”
Jan. 26
Stephen Conrad is given an electoral warning for allegedly sharing professional photography expenses with other councillors who he refused to identify. It was also deemed pre-campaigning as the photos were specifically taken in the atrium and seen to be publicly attracting attention to their cause.
Feb. 2
The Chief Electoral Office decrees that Twitter is not to be used in any way as a campaigning tool “due to the difficulty of monitoring and the widespread use of nicknames, which makes it close to impossible to attribute a post to an individual candidate or campaigner.”
Feb. 2
Nick Bergamini found in violation of the electoral code for the website “cusaonline.ca” which was supposedly meant to falsely redirect those looking for CUSA’s official website “www.cusaonline.com.” The false website linked to a CBC article in which he was named and quoted. Although Bergamini denied any association to the website, he was still found in violation as it constituted a form of unauthorized campaigning.
Feb 3
Official campaigning period begins.
Feb 5 and 8.
All-Candidate debates take place in the atrium from 1-4 p.m.
Feb 9
Adey Almohsen found in violation of the electoral code for distributing unstamped and unapproved copies of his electoral handbill. Later, he separately inquired into whether he would be reimbursed for his campaign budget if he decided to drop out of the race. The electoral board took this as his official withdrawal from the race and took his name off the ballot.
Erik Halliwell is charged with the electoral offence of early campaigning for a support message that was sent on January 28 by Shawn Menard on behalf of the “Yes Committee” regarding the mandatory U-Pass. The message was sent from a group of which Halliwell was an administrator.
Official campaigning period ends.
Feb 10 and 11
Voting officially begins.