James Cohen, who is running for the AMS presidency, has been suspended from using Facebook Messenger for the purpose of his campaign for 24 hours after one of his volunteers engaged in “slate-like behaviour.”
One of the official volunteers of Cohen’s campaign sent messages over Facebook that simultaneously supported Cohen as well as another candidate. The other candidate has not been named since they were unaware of this happening and the volunteer is not officially involved in their campaign.
Slate-like behaviour is a direct violation of AMS Code, which disallows non-approved joint campaigning.
“Candidates are responsible for the behaviour of their volunteers,” said the elections administrator, Max Holmes, in a written statement.
“I do believe James did not know this activity was taking place.”
Cohen was notified of his campaign’s 24-hour suspension at 6 p.m. today.
“James and the volunteer were completely truthful and forward in letting us know what had happened,” read the statement.
This is the third time Cohen’s campaign has violated elections procedure.
AMS Elections’s full statement on the violation is available on their Facebook page.