York Vision has learnt that Chris Etheridge has broken YUSU election rules after a mass email was sent to hundreds of students before legitimate campaigning can begin.
The email in question was forwarded by the Department of Politics on behalf of Freedom Soc to all students in the department. In the message, which was promoting a debate about financial aid to Haiti, Etheridge was referred to as a ‘Candidate for YUSU Democracy and Services’.
A second email quickly followed in which Karen Taylor, 1st Year Undergraduate Administrator for the department, corrected the initial email and accepted it broke early campaigning rules. “Just to clarify that Christopher Etheridge is merely a POTENTIAL candidate for YUSU Democracy and Services, and that we cannot refer to him as a candidate until campaigning officially starts on Monday evening.”
But election rules 7 and 12 respectively stipulate that “No candidate may distribute any publicity… or campaign until they have attended the compulsory Candidates Briefing” and “Mass emailing is not allowed; candidates may only email people who have previously explicitly agreed to receive campaign communications.”
Nevertheless over the years the rules have been open to interpretation by candidates and returning officers alike, Etheridge will most likely avoid penalisation as there would be no way to prove he sanctioned the wording of the message. At the end of the second email it reads “He [Chris Etheridge] did not authorise us to use this description.”
This is now the second time Etheridge’s campaign has been under the spotlight, earlier this week Etheridge was criticised for starting a Facebook group for his campaign over a week before campaigning is allowed by YUSU rules.
At the time of writing neither Etheridge nor YUSU were available to comment.
The YUSU Elections Handbook, including all election rules, can be viewed at:
“Etheridge will most likely avoid penalisation as there would be no way to prove he sanctioned the wording of the message”
The rules clearly state that the burden of proof is on the candidate:
“Candidates must take reasonable steps to ensure that their supporters actions comply with the campaign rules at all times and must be able to demonstrate this in the event of a complaint against them” (Rule 4)
As Etheridge is not able to demonstrate that he has taken reasonable steps to ensure compliance with the rules in the case of this email, I think that constitutes a rule breach.
Etheridge needs to sort himself out.
Cheating seems to be rife this elections. All of Nick Scarlett’s campaigners (including himself) have set their profile pictures to ‘T-Minus 4 days and counting’ a reference to their Captain Scarlett themed campaign. I can’t believe getting in four days early will help and blatant disregard for rules really can’t ender these candidates to voters can they?
On behalf on the Etheridge for Democracy and Services Campaign (which doesn’t launch until Monday, may I add):
The email was an innocent mistake by Sam Westrop that was then passed on by the politics department. Sam assumed that he could name Chris as a candidate given that he had already appeared as one in Nouse. I talked to Sam, and he apologised profusely and sent out a clarification email. When the politics department forwarded Sam’s original email, I talked to them, and asked them to send out the clarification. It was an innocent mistake, which YUSU have accepted as such, and no further action will be taken. No rules have been broken by Chris or the campaign team, and we have continued to go out of our way to ensure that we seek approval for all actions that we have taken to this point.
Furthermore, Chris was not approached for comment on this issue, as stated in the article.
Finally, this is the second time that the campaign has appeared in the press this week. This was, as I said before, an innocent mistake. The first time, regarding the facebook group, was vilified by YUSU with written confirmation from the acting returning officer permitting the group, as reported by both Nouse and yourselves.
The facebook group demonstrates the initiative within the campaign team, and has already put us ahead of the field in terms of ideas. Many people from other campaign teams have subsequently congratulated me on the move, and said that it demonstrates capable initiative.
Many thanks,
Peter Campbell
Campaign Manager
I think the recent fLurry of these stories serves to dEMONstrate that the PRocESS of deciding what is and isn’t within the rules is quite… arbitrary. However, you’d have to be a bit quackers to think that the appearance of the candidate in question’s name all over the campus media wasn’t just as likely to bring in the votes and bring on the party come the elections as any mention of his policies; a large proportion of students will simply choose the candidate they’ve heard of.
Sounds like hot air from Peter Campbell – typical boring response with no actual action. One imagines that Chris will continue ti flout YUSU’s rules. Well done Vision!
Perhaps Peter Campbell would like to explain yet another ‘innocent mistake’: http://www.yusu.org/event/2619
Chris Etherige or ‘Candidate for YUSU Democracy and Service’ has even got YUSU breaking their own election rules.