Some blogs are updating with live coverage- check out the Radical Beer Tribune or the UBC Spectator. So far, Blake, Ale, and Tristan have all laid out their cases. The latter two candidates were punished for slate-like behaviour by being fined $200 each. Most of the confusion/disgruntlement seems to stem around a couple of issues:
-what constitutes slate-like behaviour: candidates were told that they were allowed to make announcements together, yet at the same time not in a way that could be construed as slate-like (personal note: I saw several of these announcements, at no time did I feel like these candidates were a part of a slate. Nothing they said or did suggested that they were running together, and each candidate presented their own platforms only). Candidates said that they made announcements together between 5 and 10 times (out of between 25 and 50 announcements that each candidate made individually).
-being notified of disqualification: the EA did not notify Blake in person, and the other two candidates found out only about 1 week later that they had been disqualified. There seem to be some issues with email communication in general.
-Cookiegate and how many votes can be garnered in this way (i.e. by going door to door- the EAC tried it and got something like 4 votes in more than 2 hours, while the allegations were of 50-800 votes being made). Also, Cookiegate and how evidence was handled, whether or not people spoke with one another, and whether or not witnesses were friends of other candidates and were thus biased.
-the impartiality of the EAC and general bias
Decisions that were made:
-the Chief Justice will be looking at code, and a by-election for the SLFS could occur. I’m not totally sure why, but it looks like things may have been muddled with the nomination process- please correct me if I’m wrong, as I wasn’t there.
-the Chief Justice also said that Sonia’s appeal took too much time. From what I gathered, there was no evidence to substantiate her claims.
All in all, there are 4 appeals taking place- one about the SLFS (launched by Ed Durgan), one about the VP Academic/Uni Affaris race (launched by Sonia Purewal), one about the presidential race (launched by Blake Frederick), and one about the VP Finance race (launched by Ale). The latter two are based on the slate rulings (one is about the disqualification, the other about the fine). The Chief Justice presiding was Donald McIntyre.
What’s taking so long? Am I the only one that finds it absurd that the AMS doesn’t have a President three weeks after the election? Whether Blake or Alex, it will be a significant challenge for him to get up to speed once affirmed. More importantly, there’s a good chance the exec team will be dysfunctional, in my humble opinion. The rest of the team will have spent at least a month formulating their own disconnected plan for the year; it will be tough for the President to come in this late in the game and ensure everyone is aligned with his overall plan for the AMS this year. Of course, the team dynamics will be complex too. C’mon guys, expedite this process!