As students have been voting, Kathleen Weary has been violating the electoral code.
The first electoral violation of the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) election was issued this morning, on Jan. 29.
Kathleen Weary, a candidate running for the president position, was issued a violation over “leaving campaign literature unattended,” according to the violation report.
The violation report states Weary’s campaign materials were found unattended by a payphone in Residence Commons outside of Oasis this morning.
According to the voting day policy, distribution or display of campaign material is not allowed while voting is taking place, except for campaign posters in designated areas or online.
Although the display of unattended campaign materials breaks the electoral code, the violation report states candidates were given multiple warnings prior to the issue of this electoral violation.
“The Electoral officers gave multiple written and verbal warnings to all Candidates regarding this issue,” reads the report. “[T]hus this is being issued as a violation and not a warning.”
It is unclear how many warnings were given before a violation was issued.
In a later meeting with the Charlatan, chief electoral officer Claudia Calagoure-Perna said there is no rule written in the electoral code dictating how many warnings can be given before a violation must be issued.
“I kind of just use my best discretion on the warnings,” Calagoure-Perna said.
“If something arises I would just give them a heads up,” she added. “Then, once I decided that enough was enough, I just used my own discretion to say, ‘You have done this too many times, I’m going to do a violation because I did mention it a few times.’”
After two violations, candidates lose the ability to get 50 per cent of their campaigning money back after the election closes.
Although Weary is running in a slate, her violation only applies to her individual funding, according to Calagoure-Perna.
This article has been updated as of Thursday, Jan. 30 at 8:12 a.m.
Featured image from file.
