Slate supporters can’t be held responsible

 

Dear Charlatan,

 

I’m starting to get awfully tired of the same perspectives being repeated over and over in the aftermath of the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) election debacle. Having said that, I cannot restrain myself from responding to CUSA councillor-elect Allie Elwell’s op-ed in your last edition. Elwell is insistent that “someone” must be held accountable when election rules are broken. I have to point out the serious flaws here.

 

Let’s imagine that I, a Demand Better supporter, had anonymously bought Facebook ads attacking Elwell’s opponent, Dean Tester, and linked them to her election group. Under the logic followed by the chief electoral officer and the electoral board, she would have been held responsible and issued a violation. Would she then be equally loud in demanding that the candidate face the consequences of someone else’s actions?

I am appalled that some members of this community continue to ignore a fundamental principle of justice: that we cannot, must not, hold someone responsible for events over which they did not have control.

I sincerely hope the constitutional board will see it this way.