The Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA)’s constitutional board ruled an audio recording allegedly revealing electoral violations by the Forward slate inadmissible. The slate will remain the winner of last month’s election.
Launched last week, the constitutional board’s investigation found that the second-place Action slate possessed the recording before the election period began, but did not report its existence to the chief electoral officer (CEO) until June 27—one day after voting concluded.
Any electoral code violation must be reported to the CEO within 24 hours of its discovery.
“The Constitutional Board did review each alleged violation received in detail and did conduct as many interviews as it felt necessary to review the evidence presented to make an informed judgement,” reads a written statement from CEO Qusai Yusuf. “Our letter to candidates identified the rationale and logic for each decision.”
The Forward slate won the election in late June with 496 votes. The Action slate trailed with 266 votes, and the Elevate slate placed third with 153 votes.
The recording showed Forward presidential candidate and 2019-20 RRRA vice-president (programming) Jaden Slawter accepting the help of off-campus volunteer and Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) vice-president (finance) Jacob Howell.
In the recording, Slawter is also heard stating that he is in possession of the residence list, which contains confidential information on all residence students.
“We have the res list, so I literally followed so many people and that’s how I got to 4K followers,” Slawter said in the recording.
“I could run a code from my computer with your accounts,” Howell is later heard saying. Slawter responded, “ok.”
The code Howell referred to, as described by former CUSA executive Sissi De Flaviis in an interview, is a bot that messages “everyone in your list.”
De Flaviis is also heard on the recording offering help to the Forward slate.
“I can have a social media talk with you later. I have so many ideas,” she said.
To protect the anonymity of the source, the Charlatan will not be publishing the recording.
In a statement, Slawter said that the recording came from a May 29 programming meeting between CUSA and RRRA. Slawter said the residence list he referred to was made by his slate by combing through social media accounts, looking for on-campus students.
Slawter said that while CUSA vice-president Howell did offer to run a program using Slawter’s student contacts, the Forward slate did not follow through because it would block the candidates from their social media accounts for spam and Howell’s involvement would be a violation of the electoral code.
The involvement of an off-campus volunteer such as Howell is a violation of section 6.10 (f) of the electoral code. De Flaviis, who was also alleged to be an off-campus volunteer, said that she only offered social media tips to Slawter and never actually followed through.
De Flaviis said that when she testified over Zoom in the investigation, all four members of the constitutional board questioned her.
Karen Haarbosch, the manager of accommodation services for Housing and Residence Life Services, confirmed that the RRRA executive is not provided “any information regarding residents.”
Haarbosch, who has access to the database of student information along with her assistant, said that no one connected to RRRA was sent a residence list over the last year before June 16, more than two weeks after Slawter referenced the residence list in the recording.
On that date, CEO Yusuf was provided with a list of the first and last names and residence building of students to verify signatures on candidate nomination forms.
While RRRA also holds elections for floor representatives in September, vice-president (administration) Lina Ceron—who administered the election—did not receive a residence list then. Ceron said that she instead verified with residence fellows that candidates lived on the floor they were running for.
“The accusations that were made against Forward’s team are more important than [reporting the recording late],” Zagorski said in an interview.
Zagorski alleged two additional violations by the Forward slate when it ran Instagram advertisements on the first day of voting and posted videos of student endorsements from off-campus volunteers.
The electoral code stipulates that three or more violations of the electoral code can be punished with disqualification.
“While my team and I understand how alarming this initially could appear to students, an audio recording that was held from over a month before elections with the intent to appeal the election if a loss occurred is not conclusive to wrongdoing and rather turned into rumours, hate, and spite in our online community,” Slawter said in a written statement.
“A member of the call decided to interfere in the election with a malicious intent by giving the audio to the Action slate,” Slawter continued. “I will forever stand by the fact that my team and I ran a fair and honest campaign.”
Chapman and Brzozwski denied requests for comment.
Yusuf did not provide a reason for the 24 hour limit to submit evidence.
“It is a longstanding clause from the constitution which I did not create, just adapted for this election,” Yusuf wrote in an email. “Should future executives wish to revisit this clause, they would be more than permitted.”
“The point of having a legal framework is so that people know when the deadlines are, they know what the rules are,” Stéphanie Plante, an elections expert and incoming director of Carleton’s centre for security, intelligence and defence studies, said. “If people are just going to flout it, then the chief electoral officer will make a decision from there.”
“We spend years being ‘lead’ [sic] by CUSA and RRRA executives, yet we are only given 24 hours to change the corrupt and unequal system that they have created,” Action candidate Reid wrote in a Facebook post.
Nathaniel Black, the undergraduate representative on the Board of Governors, sent a letter to Yusuf requesting information on the investigation. Black said he will bring “comprehensive electoral oversight legislation” to the Board of Governors.
Black also sent a letter to CUSA president Kathleen Weary requesting an investigation by the association into its alleged interference in the RRRA election.
“But there was no involvement of CUSA in the RRRA election,” De Flaviis said.
De Flaviis helped transition the 2019-20 RRRA executive, including Slawter, into their roles.
Although the investigation has concluded, Slawter said that the online criticism his slate received is negatively affecting his mental health.
The Forward slate’s victory brings RRRA’s first-ever virtual election to a close. A RRRA Facebook post introducing Slawter and Forward slate members vice-presidents of programming and administration Jenna Smith and Sash Mahara that they look forward to meeting students moving into residence come September.
Featured image from file.
