In a split vote Feb. 13, the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) electoral board decided not to proceed with online elections.
The online elections would have been the first in the association’s history; however, in a Feb. 10 letter to CUSA president Obed Okyere and all council members, chief electoral officer (CEO) Sean Finn said the motion wasn’t carried out correctly and CUSA had until 9 a.m. Feb. 13 to fix it or he’s using paper ballots when students head out to vote Feb. 15-16.
In a response sent Feb. 11, Okyere said while it’s within Finn’s role to make administrative decisions, these decisions couldn’t “trump the will of council,” which had voted Jan. 26 to proceed with online elections.
Okyere then appealed to the electoral board, which decided after an hour and a half meeting not to proceed with online elections.
The electoral board consists of current vice-president (internal) Ariel Norman, university ombudsperson Jim Kennelly and current public affairs and policy management councillor Chris Thompson.
Norman and Thompson could not be reached for comment.
In an email obtained by the Charlatan, Kennelly said the decision was “not made lightly.”
He said it was agreed that Finn “overstepped his authority,” but not with any “malice.”
“His decision was based on what he believed he had to do to run a fair election and was looking to protect the integrity of the election,” Kennelly wrote.
The elections, which are less than 48 hours away, will be held with traditional ballots which Kennelly will print, number, hold and distribute.
For his part, Finn said he’s just glad a decision has been made and not solely by him.
“I didn’t feel comfortable proceeding with both sides in conflict,” he said. “We’ve brought it to a higher power . . . I’m glad that they’ve at least gone through the appeal. It really didn’t matter either way so long as something was appealed and somebody could give me further direction on which way I could carry out the election with integrity.”
Part of the decision to continue with paper ballots this year was due to the large number of untested variables that would be a part of online elections, Kennelly wrote in his decision.
“Very little, if any, promotion of an electronic voting has taken place,” he wrote. “It had been hoped that training and even a mock election could have been held in advance of the vote.”
Finn said he’s not sure whether or not this decision will affect future elections.
“I’m sure the council’s going to speak about it now,” he said. “I’ve just seen what the electoral board sent me and that’s the extent.”
As to whether or not he anticipates any further action from councillors who had adamantly pushed for online elections this year, Finn said he had no comment.
“I honestly don’t know,” he said. “All I can say is I’m glad it’s been at least looked at by somebody above me and I was ready to accept what the electoral board handed down no matter what it was, even if it was online. I said, you know, we don’t have time. We really just didn’t have time.”
— More to come
Click here to download a PDF of the electoral board’s ruling.
