By Linh Tat Daily Bruin Staff Condoms, lollipops and new flyers
are making their way into the hands of undergraduates as runoff
elections for the Undergraduate Students Association Council begin
today. Two presidential and five general representative candidates
““ forced into the runoff elections after failing to receive
the minimum percentage of votes to win in the primary elections
““ continue to vie for their respective offices today and
Thursday. Independent Elizabeth Houston and Praxis member Katynja
McCory are running for president. General representative candidates
include Ryan Bulatao, Cheryl Marie Lott and Elisa Sequeira of
Praxis and independents Katrina Eiland and Kendra Striegler. Noah
Bookman, a general representative candidate on the Viable
Alternative slate, withdrew from the race Sunday night. Unlike the
primary election, where a general representative candidate must
receive 25 percent of the votes cast for that office to win a spot,
three candidates with the most votes in the runoff win. Eleven
polling tables will be open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. both days. “I
hope there will be a similar or higher voter turnout than last
week, but because there are only two offices running, (the turnout)
might be slightly less,” said Nicole Lynch, chair of the USAC
Election Board, adding that the absence of any referenda to vote on
in the runoff elections might keep some students away from the
polling tables. Despite a 5.7 percent drop from last year’s
29.21 percent primary elections turnout, Lynch said she was not
disappointed. With more candidates running unopposed for their
offices this year, Lynch said it was not surprising that fewer
students decided to vote. But Striegler, a first-year history
student, said voting is more crucial than ever since the results of
the runoff elections will determine the composition of next
year’s council. “Voting will be 100 times more
important this week than last week because this is the last chance
to make a change,” Striegler said. “This is just the
beginning.” Many of the candidates have changed or
intensified their campaign efforts since last week. Houston, a
third-year political science student, has gathered more people to
help her campaign as well as stating her reasons for running and
her suggested policies in the new flyers. Houston said she hopes to
receive votes that went to Jason Lautenschleger, the independent
presidential candidate who did not advance to the runoffs.
“(The primary) was surprisingly close,” Houston said.
“I think I have a good shot at winning.” McCory said
she will prepare herself for this week’s elections results
the same way she did last week ““ with confidence. “My
confidence comes from my community,” McCory said.
“It’s all I need in terms of preparation. What we had
(last) Thursday was amazing. How could I be jittery?” Other
candidates said they are as confident as McCory. “We came in
one-two-three (in the primary), and we’ll come in
one-two-three again,” Lott said last week of the three
general representative candidates from Praxis. Praxis members have
also been distributing lollipops and condoms to students on Bruin
Walk to diverge from the trend of passing out flyers. But not all
students were happy with the campaign tactic. “It’s
terrible and a disgrace to the elections,” said Brooks
Osborne, a second-year political science student. He said that even
if students are tired of the campaigns, they should still recognize
its importance without the incentive of free gifts. “The
campaigns get old after awhile, but voting is still a very
important part of attending school,” Osborne said. Some
students showed their discontent with Praxis by printing flyers
associating the slate with the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis. “The
difference between Praxis and the Ku Klux Klan … (is that) the
KKK were more honest about being race obsessed wackos!” reads
one of the flyers. But McCory said the slate cannot be compared to
the KKK or Nazis. “Praxis is love,” McCory said.
“It’s about unity and not division; inclusion and not
exclusion. We’re the only multi-racial and multi-sexual
orientation group. We prove that students of different backgrounds
can coexist for a common cause.” The two independent general
representative candidates are now officially endorsing Houston for
president. Striegler said she was upset with Bookman’s
endorsement of the Praxis general representative candidates after
he dropped out of the race. “I find it quite entertaining and
incredibly ironic that (Bookman) has endorsed Praxis,”
Striegler said. Nonetheless, Striegler said that neither she nor
Eiland are discouraged by Bookman’s actions.
“(Bookman’s) actions aren’t going to affect
us,” Striegler said. “If we’re going to win this,
it will be through our campaign efforts.”
POLLING LOCATIONS FOR THE 2000 UNDERGRADUATE ASSOCIATION
COUNCIL ELECTIONS 1. Bruin Walk – Northwest Corner of
Pauley Pavilion 2. Between Kerchoff and Moore Hall 3. Ackerman
turnaround located near the Bus Stop 4. Bruin Plaza Bruin walk
across from the Bear 5. Royce Quad between Powell Library and Royce
Hall 6. Quad – Northwest corner of Royce Hall, between Rolfe and
Royce 7. Bunche Hall Southwest of Bunche Hall 8. Inverted Fountain
by Franz and Knudsen Hall 9. Court of Sciences by Young, Math
Sciences, and Franz Hall 10. Men’s Gym 11. Covel Commons Southwest
of Covel Commons Original by MAGGIE WOO Web adaptaion by HERNANE
TABAY/Daily Bruin