The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) electoral office has issued two offences after four complaints were made on Jan. 30.
Zameer Masjedee, presidential candidate for the One Carleton slate, was issued an offence after a non-Carleton student was found to be campaigning for him.
Section 16.2 of the CUSA electoral code states that all volunteers in the election must be registered Carleton students.
“It’s unfortunate that happened,” said David Andrews, One Carleton’s campaign manager. “[The volunteer] just finished last year, he was here at Carleton, I guess there was a miscommunication.”
Andrews said the volunteer in question was not aware of the policy prohibiting non-students from volunteering.
“Yes it was an unfortunate mistake, but we’re moving forward and we’re here just focusing on the campaign and doing what we can to get our message out to voters,” he said.
Also announced by the elections office was that Cat Kelly, One Carleton vice-president (Internal) candidate, would not be issued a violation for comments allegedly made about Kenneth Aliu, Change candidate for vice-president (student issues).
“In a class talk One Carleton VPI Candidate Cat Kelly allegedly called into question the character of Change VPSS Candidate Kenneth Aliu,” the elections office said in an update on their website.
Kelly is alleged to have made negative comments about Aliu based on controversial Tweets that came to light recently.
During the CUSA Executive debate open forum, Kelly said during that she made reference to misogynistic tweets in a women’s and gender studies class talk.
The office said Kelly’s comments do not qualify as a violation under the Carleton Human Rights Code. They also said the matter had become “deeply politicized” and would not be taking further submissions on it.
Anthony Galipeau, one of the Change slate’s campaign managers, said he was confused as to why an offence was not issued, as Kelly allegedly used Aliu’s Tweets to portray him in a negative light during the class talk.
“If I was in the elections office maybe I would have ruled in a different way,” he said.
Galipeau said the slate is considering an appeal, but it will depend on what the best use of resources is.
Frano Cavar, chief electoral officer, declined to comment on any violations.
Also announced was Ahmad Araji, Change candidate for vice-president (internal), was issued a violation for bringing a volunteer into a class talk to give a testimonial to the students.
Galipeau said the volunteer was part of Change’s management, and they were unclear concerning the rules for volunteers.
“I think this violation was a product of clear confusion over which rules superseded each other and which ones take precedence,” he said.
The elections office also declined to issue a violation over a Change volunteer’s Facebook post calling into question the character of “various” One Carleton candidates. Controversial old Facebook posts, namely of candidates Abdullah Jaber and Zameer Masjedee, have circulated on social media during the campaign.
“The elections office believes there is insufficient evidence that the alleged volunteer is associated with the campaign, and as such there is no offence,” the electoral ruling read.
