CRO keeps executive candidates on short leash
By Hannah Larking
News Editor
March 11, 2009
 Candidates running for executive positions in the UWSA were instructed to not relay platform information to The Lance at the risk of being disqualified based on UWSA election policy 7.1 which states that voting days must be free of campaigning.
The Lance has historically been a media outlet for the election and recently provided an equal opportunity for candidates to describe their platforms with the intention of printing them verbatim in the next edition.
According to Chief Returning Officer Naaila Sangrar, “[H]aving articles in The Lance about candidates during voting days was deemed campaigning during voting days which is not permitted.”
Last year’s CRO, Justin Teeuwen, said that even though campaigning during voting days was restricted when he was in charge, the inconvenience of timing could have made for an exception.
“When I was CRO, I think The Lance came out the day before voting days, so it was still floating around. But because they all had an equal opportunity, it wasn’t seen as advertising,” Teeuwen said.
“We want students to know who they’re voting for and be informed. If you muzzle the candidate from being able to have an equal chance to speak to the media, how do you expect [students] to make an informed decision? Do you want them to vote blindly?”
The Lance regularly updates a website that could have provided candidate platform information prior to the commencement of official voting days, but candidates were instructed not to respond long before the polls even opened. Sangrar was unavailable to comment on this.
“I think it’s ridiculous to not allow the candidates to talk to The Lance. That’s been historically done for at least six years. It’s unfortunate [the publication] comes out at that time, but it does treat everyone fairly,” said Teeuwen.
“Campaigning is still done on voting days both federally and provincially. The idea of democracy is people making the decision, and it has to be informed and it’s our responsibility to ensure that that happens in the best way possible,” he added.
This year, the UWSA elections fall under the complete discretion of the CRO, who has been given the power to arbitrarily decide when and why a candidate should be disqualified. The CRO’s decisions are contestable by the Electoral Monitoring Committee (EMC), which she chairs. As The Lance reported earlier, UWSA council members also monitor the EMC when necessary; however, two members of council also sit on the EMC. There is no committee overseeing the CRO, only “assisting” her [UWSA by-law 6.2.1.2].
Teeuwen, who set up a demerit point system to monitor candidates rather than only using his discretion, said that the power merited by “complete discretion” isn’t good for transparency.
“A lot of people felt it wasn’t accountable,” Teeuwen said.
“Although the CRO needs the power, it was not very transparent. The demerit point system was installed based almost directly on one from another university that had worked out the kinks so that candidates would know when they were pushing the limit and what the limit was quantifying—how much was too much… It removed the need to have arbitrary decisions,” he explained.
As previously reported by The Lance, the demerit point system was removed because Sangrar wanted to avoid candidates budgeting their penalties.
Candidates are monitored in their emails and on their Facebooks, with as much as a status update being reason for disqualification.
“When I was CRO, I requested to be added to all of the groups and said they were to be taken down when the voting occurred, but I deemed Facebook like MSN [Windows Live Messenger]. It is your network of friends… I didn’t try to police it. It’s such a large network I didn’t feel the need,” explained Teeuwen.
“When there is restriction upon restriction—they’re only one person and they have to speak to 12,000. Candidates don’t have enough time,” he said.
UWSA by-laws also state that candidates are not allowed to discuss their campaign over a beer—the presence of alcohol will garner their disqualification according to UWSA election policy 6.7.
The voting period for the general election opened on Tuesday, Mar. 10 and will close Thursday, Mar. 12. Voting can be done online at www.uwindsor.ca/uwsavote.
|
