Following the controversy of Squirrels of AMS’s (SoAMS) alleged impersonation of Squirrels of UBC (SoUBC) in the 2017 AMS General Election’s VoterMedia competition, the society’s Elections Committee has removed VoterMedia entirely from their code.
Controversy was stirred when a minimal webpage for SoAMS appeared on the referendum question for part of VoterMedia’s $1,500 prize after being created just days before the election.
Several students posted about confusion surrounding SoAMS onto an r/UBC subthread, questioning whether or not it was the same thing as SoUBC — a popular Facebook page with over 5,500 likes. SoUBC also made a post right away clarifying that the two pages had no association.
“Clearly whoever created Squirrels of AMS was using our likeness to get that free money, and tricking people into believing it was our page,” said SoUBC.
This type of deceptive naming is not a first-time occurrence for VoterMedia. Previously, a site called Syrup Tarp — suspiciously similar to the more established and popular site, Syrup Trap — was entered into the elections competition.
The administrator(s) for SoAMS could not be reached for comments due to the site’s lack of contact information. Their only instance of public interaction was on an r/UBC subthread to indicate the link to their website.
SoAMS ended up receiving $225.
On March 6, SoUBC reached out to Max Holmes — the AMS elections administrator at the time — about the situation. Holmes responded that while he could not remove SoAMS from the ballot once it has been finalized, but he would address the issue.
“I will be sure to bring it up to the Elections Committee so we can vote to not give them any funding due to fraudulent information being given in their application,” wrote Holmes in an emailed response. He also stated that if the issue turned out to be true, the AMS would “release a public letter letting people know of the mistake and fraudulent activity.”
After sending a follow-up email to Holmes on March 11, SoUBC claimed to not receive any reply.
“All we are asking is for the money that that person or people got to be given back to the students,” said SoUBC. “[It’s] literally tuition that [students] pay for the AMS.”
However, AMS President Alan Ehrenholz stated that since the AMS Elections Committee followed the code of procedures when assessing SoAMS as a voter media, the money will not be refunded.
Still, he acknowledged that the VoterMedia competition was problematic, despite not being able to comment on whether the likeness between SoAMS and SoUBC was intentional.
“The AMS allowing VoterMedia to run in the way it was was not as effective as it could be pursued,” said Ehrenholz. “This summer, we rectified that by reviewing VoterMedia and removing it from our code.
“VoterMedia will not be in any future elections that the AMS runs.”
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