An investigation into allegations made against the Confidence slate is ongoing, according to chief electoral officer (CEO) Nada Ibrahim.
On the morning of March 21, One Carleton campaign manager Zameer Masjedee alleged in a Facebook post that one of Confidence’s campaign managers, Adam Carroll, and Jacob Kenney, a campaign member, were behind the anonymous meme account “Rank One Carleton Last.”
The account, which was active on both Facebook and Reddit, used memes to encourage students to rank the One Carleton slate last on their electoral ballot.
Later that same day, the “Rank One Carleton Last” page was deleted from both Facebook and Reddit.
Ibrahim said an investigation is underway and the Elections Office is looking into the “evidence which has been submitted.”
Masjedee said he sees the removal of the page as a sign that there is truth in the allegations, saying, “otherwise I don’t know why the page would be deleted.”
He added that this “makes me very disappointed in the fact that there would be someone participating in our electoral process, who would go to the lengths of creating such a page and spreading this kind of misinformation and defamatory information online, especially when they are a part of an opposing slate, as allegations might suggest.”
Carroll could not be reached for comment the night of March 21.
However, Ashley Courchene, who is also a campaign manager for Confidence, said the account was deleted on social media sites after he sent a message to the Reddit account saying: “You need to stop what you’re doing because this is hurting my campaign. I cannot deal with another disqualification,” referencing his own disqualification in 2015. “Please stop what you’re doing.”
Courchene said he later received a message from the user, who said they would stop.
He added that he does not know when the Confidence slate will receive a verdict from the Elections Office.
Courchene declined to discuss the investigation further, citing that he did not want to incur any possible electoral violations for doing so.
Deputy electoral officer Aiden Forsyth said if proven, the actions could be regarded as an electoral violation.
Section 18.14 of the electoral code reads: “If the members of a slate have collectively been found guilty of three or more Electoral Offences, the [chief electoral officer] shall disqualify the entire slate.”
The Confidence slate has already received two violations. Both Donna Al Sououb, the presidential candidate, and vice-president (student services) candidate Diana Idibe received violations on March 19 for failing to provide the proper information in their Instagram bios.
Forsyth also said if the claims are proven, they could be considered “egregious.”
According to the electoral code, slates can be immediately disqualified in instances where they, “[commit] an offence which is deemed to be egregious by the CEO.”
Forsyth said this ruling would be left up to the interpretation of the CEO.
Masjedee said he hopes the Confidence slate isn’t disqualified, explaining that this causes students to lose faith in the electoral process.
Instead, he said he hopes everyone responsible for the page will “own up to it” to help restore students’ trust in the electoral system.
