The Martlet

Campaigning doesn’t start until Feb. 28, but this year’s UVic Students’ Society (UVSS) elections are already heating up. Students may have noticed posters already dotted around campus, as Senate and Board of Governors (BOG) campaigning is now underway. Here are some of the highlights from the past week:

Poster campaigning

The members of the RENEW and FUSE UVic slates plastered the walls of UVic buildings on Feb. 8, when campaigning for the Senate and BOG officially began at 4:30 p.m.

Starting at the bus loop by the UVic Bookstore, the slates reached an agreement regarding poster placement. UVSS election rules state that no campaigning can occur outside of the designated campaigning time and all campaign materials, including posters, must be approved by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).

To lay stake to wall space, both RENEW and FUSE plastered their posters prior to the official start time. But they were placed backwards, with the advertising print facing the walls.

Lead Deputy Electoral Officer (DEO), Chris Gillepsie, says that despite this, the campaigning started fairly and in accordance to UVSS election rules.

“By having their banners backwards, they technically weren’t campaigning,” he said. “The electoral office was there when the posters were turned around. We did speak to the university’s secretary office and security and they indicated that [the backward posters] were going to be all right.”

The UVic BOG makes decisions on “financial and operational matters,” according to the UVSS website. The Senate is described as “the decision-making body for all academic matters.” Campaigning for student election to these bodies begins well before the UVSS campaign period, and many candidates run in both elections.

Disqualifications and Complaints

The electoral office confirmed that two candidates running for the 11 director-at-large positions have been disqualified — Zoe Staples and Chris Hackett, both of the RENEW slate.

Staples’ form was missing a signature while Hackett’s was missing an email address. The CEO investigated the forms, and ruled them disqualified.

“The rulings were that the forms were out of order,” said Gillepsie, “It means that they are not permitted to stand. They may appeal if they so chose. Whether or not they have appealed, I cannot comment.”

Staples and Hackett were unavailable for comment.

The Martlet has also learned that multiple complaints have been filed with the Electoral Office. The complainants, defendants and nature of the charges could not be confirmed as of press time. Because the campaign period has not started, it is likely that the complaints are for pre-campaigning, a disqualifiable offense.

CFS Office Break In

The Martlet has also learned that the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) office, in the Student Union Building — which is used by FUSE candidate Dylan Sherlock, the UVSS’ current representative to the organization — was broken into for a second time over the weekend.

The first break-in happened sometime prior to Feb. 10, though the exact date cannot be confirmed by UVSS General Manager Dale Robertson.

“[Campus Security] does think somebody got in a couple of weeks ago with keys,” said Robertson. “It sounds like the control of those keys . . . hasn’t been great in the past little while, but the locks were changed in between [the break-ins].”

The door lock was changed on Feb. 10 but another break in allegedly occurred sometime between Feb. 11 and 14, he says. Nothing was missing from the office and the only damage was the tampered door jam.

The second break-in was allegedly done with a crowbar, though Robertson says Campus Security could not confirm such reports.