On the morning after the final ballots were cast, 29 hopeful Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) councillor candidates awoke to find they had been disqualified for breaking rules they likely had no idea existed.

The CUSA electoral office decided the day before, after the candidates had handed in their campaign budgets, that the receipts they had included were invalid and then barred them from filling the seats they might have won.

Disqualifying these candidates for breaking ambiguous rules that were not explained to them is entirely unwarranted. Rejecting their appeals would set a dangerous precedent for the undergraduate student government system.

The electoral office failed to ensure at the outset of the election process that all candidates understood what specific information budgetary receipts would need to include. The electoral code simply states: “all election expenses shall be accounted for in actual Canadian dollars including tax.”

Alex Sirois has been elected the next president of Carleton's undergraduate student union after his slate secured all six executive spots on Carleton University Students' Association (CUSA) after the votes were tallied Feb. 12.

Sirois, CUSA's current vice-president (student life), beat out fellow executive member Nick Bergamini, currently vice-president (student issues), by a margin of more than 400 votes, with 4,885 votes cast in total.

Presidential candidate Nick Bergamini conceded defeat to opponent Alex Sirois in the Carleton University Students' Association (CUSA) elections Feb. 12.

All six of the executive positions were taken by Sirois' "United Carleton" slate, according to ballot scrutineer Brandon Wallingford. Bergamini took roughly 2,200 votes, and Sirois received 2,500 votes, Wallingford said.

Chief electoral officer Sagal Osman refused to confirm or comment on the results.

Twenty-nine students running for councillor positions at Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) were disqualified from the running this morning due to problems with their budget.

Several candidates were called into a meeting around 3 p.m. Feb. 11 where they were told there were some mistakes with their budget and that they had until 10 p.m. to fix it, said Chelsea Sauvé, who had been running for the public affairs council seat.

Full text of the electoral violation issued to 12 executive candidates on both slates by chief electoral officer Sagal Osman Feb. 10.

Re-posted from http://www.cusaonline.com/elections.html.

Twelve candidates in the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) elections received individual electoral violations Feb. 10 after they sent out campaign e-mails that had not been approved by chief electoral officer Sagal Osman.

All the candidates on the “A Better Deal” and the “United Carleton” slates received violations for the e-mails, which were sent out the night before the polls opened.

The full text of the electoral board's ruling on Adey Almohsen's appeal on Feb. 9.

The full text of the electoral violation issued to Adey Almohsen by chief electoral officer Sagal Osman on Feb. 8.

Re-posted from http://www.cusaonline.com/elections.html.

The creator of the cusaonline.ca site, which earned presidential candidate Nick Bergamini an electoral violation, has come forward, saying the intent of the site was to highlight the Carleton University Students’ Association’s (CUSA) incompetence.

The creator of the site refused to be identified or reveal any information about his or her age, gender or enrollment status, and communicated with the Charlatan only by phone and e-mail.

The domain name, according to the creator, was purchased as a “novelty,” and linked to a 2008 CBC article about the CUSA Shinerama scandal, to make students aware of CUSA’s “repeated screw ups.”

The full text of the electoral violation issued to council representative candidate Stephen Conrad by chief electoral officer Sagal Osman on Feb. 3.

Re-posted from http://www.cusaonline.com/elections.html.