A day after the election results were announced, the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) elections office ruled a disqualification of the Change slate for alleged impersonation of a professor and the breaking of two electoral policies.
This ruling generated high volumes of discussion, since the elected executive for vice-president (student services), Ashley Courchene, ran with the slate and is facing the possibility of losing his position if the appeals process is not successful.
The possible disqualification of Courchene is highly unfortunate, given that the student body elected him to spearhead CUSA’s student service centres. Courchene should not lose his seat as a result of the alleged incident, as he was not involved in it.
Chief electoral officer Matt Swain made the disqualification ruling based on the slate breaking Electoral Code 15.1a, which states the interference with the operation of laboratories without prior permission of the instructor.
He also ruled on the violation of the CUSA Elections 2016 Voting Day Policy, which states class talks are not permitted during voting days.
Although clear violations of the Electoral Code took place if the incident did occur, it is difficult to quantify the effects it had on the overall results of the election, and it would be unfair to take away Courchene’s seat on that basis.
In addition, though three violations were ruled, they were all related to one incident—the first incident by the Change slate to violate election rules. Though there were multiple offences, this alleged incident is technically only their first violation of the entire election. It is unfair to disqualify Courchene based on this circumstance.
