By Robert Salonga
Daily Bruin Reporter
After rejections, resignations and delays, work has begun on the
Undergraduate Students Association Council spring elections.
On Friday, USAC approved the elections calendar and paper ballot
voting process presented by new Elections Board Chair Nicole Lynch.
The council also approved nominations by Lynch to fill the
vacancies left by E-Board members who resigned in support of former
Chair Alex Kaplan.
“Everything is under control and everyone is definitely
prepared,” Lynch said.
As a result of recent turmoil between USAC and the E-Board
regarding the elections process, voting has been delayed one
week.
Voting will now be held May 9 and 10. Also, the voting time will
be shortened to be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., whereas last
year’s voting lasted until 7 p.m.
“This gives poll workers more time to count votes,”
Lynch said, adding that in the past, voting between 5 and 7 p.m.
was so minimal that it had little effect on results.
Accordingly, candidate packets will not be due until April
20.
The paper ballot process used for voting will be the same one
used in previous elections, consisting of polling stations and
Scantron ballots.
Voters will swipe their BruinCard, sign a voter sign-in sheet
and receive a ballot. After filling out a ballot, they will insert
it into the voting box. The entire process will be monitored by
poll workers hired by the E-Board.
Though votes will be machine-counted, poll workers will count
the number of ballots to ensure it matches the number of voter
sign-ins.
The status of the election process was in question earlier this
month when USAC voted down an online elections proposal presented
by Kaplan on April 3.
Kaplan told council this left him no time to seek an alternative
process without delaying the elections past their original May 2
date.
On April 5, he sent his letter of resignation to USAC, citing
what he considered council’s lack of respect for the E-Board
and what he alleged were efforts by certain council members to run
the elections themselves.
All but one of the E-Board members followed suit, leaving
council with no board and no process by which to run the
elections.
During last week’s council meeting, USAC appointed Lynch
as Kaplan’s successor, in a large part due to her previous
experience as last year’s E-Board chair.
Now that these setbacks have been dealt with, Student Welfare
Commissioner Julie Ryu said things should be back to normal.
“Things are behind, but I think everything will go
smoothly now,” Ryu said.
Lynch said she has had no conflicts with council so far.
“USAC has been extremely cooperative,” she said.
“I think they have a lot of confidence in me because they saw
my work last year.”
Ryu said council has had an appropriate amount of involvement
with the E-Board.
“We’re trying to let them do their job. We’re
not taking over,” she said.
Dates to Remember Important dates for the
upcoming Undergraduate Students Association Council elections
SOURCE: USAC Elections Board Original graphic by VICTOR CHEN/Daily
Bruin Web adaptation by MIKE OUYANG/Daily Bruin