Chang captures USAC presidency
Students First slate dominates elections, three runoffs
scheduled
By Rashmi Nijagal
Daily Bruin Staff
York Chang captured the undergraduate student government
presidency early Friday morning, as the progressive slate returned
to majority rule after two years.
A jubilant but tension-filled atmosphere characterized this
year’s undergraduate primary elections, as candidates and
supporters chanted and danced in Westwood Plaza while waiting for
the midnight election results.
John Du, Chang’s running mate on the Students First slate, won
the seat of external vice president. A run-off for the office of
internal vice president between Pilar McLellan and Barbara Brazil
will be held next week.
The newly elected officials and their supporters celebrated
their victory with hugs and cheers.
"I think that (the results) are indicative that students want to
see the student government start working for them," Chang said.
"They want us to stop being interpreters for the administration
and start fighting for them and to bring them in through grassroots
analysis of where students’ power lies."
But judging from voter turnout, not that many students seemed to
care.
Out of the 22,000 undergraduates at UCLA, only 4,952
undergraduates cast their votes  22 percent of the
undergraduate population. The turnout was down about 5 percent from
last year’s elections.
Although most of next year’s council members were announced
Friday morning, there will be run-off elections for the offices of
academic affairs commissioner, facilities commissioner and internal
vice president next week.
Internal vice presidential candidate Brazil garnered two more
votes than 50 percent, a slim margin more than the needed majority.
With a 35-vote discrepancy between ballots and signatures, a
run-off was required to determine the winner.
The discrepancy is completely normal, said Nikki Vivion,
Elections Board chair. In every election, there is a small
difference between the number of ballots and signatures, Vivion
said. However, Brazil’s slim majority made this number
statistically significant.
Final elections for the offices will be held next Wednesday and
Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
In addition to electing new officers in the undergraduate
student government, students voted on a programming referendum
which would have added an additional $3.50 to their registration
fees. The referendum failed, with more than 50 percent of students
voting against it.
Chang successfully beat out greek-affiliated candidate Todd
Sargent and independent Joel Elad by capturing more than half of
the votes. Sargent received 37.83 percent of the votes cast, while
Elad received less than 10 percent.
Chang said he is looking forward to the year as undergraduate
student council president and is determined to start working right
away.
"We have won this election, but we are not celebrating until we
get some things done," Chang said. "We will find a way to make our
programs work. We promised."
Sargent had no comment about the election results, striding away
from the plaza in tears.
Elad said he was not optimistic about next year’s
administration.
"I think that what happened with (undergraduate student
government in the past) is going to continue to happen," he
said.
"I think that they will work towards their issues and they will
overlook the general student body."
Newly elected external vice president Du earned more than 60
percent of undergraduate votes, defeating opponent Mahtab
Darvish.
"I think this is the strongest that all the groups have come
together," Du said. "We need this unity with the tax on education.
It shows that students can work together."
While undergraduate student elections have traditionally had a
low turnout rate, this year’s election brought in an even lower
voter response than last year.
"I felt that voter turn-out was fair compared to the past few
years," Vivion said. "I believe it was slightly lower than the past
two years, but it is nothing out of the ordinary."
With reports by Julie Ann Silva