Election’s lack of publicity petitioned
Beasley appeals for extra day of voting for two initiatives
By Betty Song
Daily Bruin Staff
Election results for the Graduate Students Association (GSA)
were confirmed by the elections board Thursday morning, but an
official appeal was made that day questioning the election process
for two ballot initiatives.
Outgoing GSA president and former presidential candidate Tim
Beasley submitted the formal appeal concerning two ballot
initiatives dealing with changes to the GSA constitution.
One initiative calls for a membership fee increase, while the
other asks for a change in the number of GSA councils. Although
both items on the ballot passed, the constitution requires a
majority during a 10 percent voter turnout.
This year, 8.65 percent of the eligible graduate students voted
last Tuesday and Wednesday.
However, the initiatives failed to garner the 10 percent turnout
because they hadn’t been publicized three days before as required
in GSA bylaws, Beasley contends.
The appeal asks for one more day of balloting in light of the
two GSA bylaw violations.
"The referenda weren’t properly noticed because they weren’t
published for three days prior to balloting, and elections took
place when law classes weren’t in session," Beasley explained. But
he added that he didn’t know what effect these violations had on
the results.
None of the elections board members could be reached for comment
on the appeal’s status.
However, Beasley’s formal appeal wasn’t the first questioning of
this year’s elections process.
Before approving the results Thursday, the election board
received a statement from Beasley highlighting several election
irregularities. The statement was presented before any hint of the
candidates’ elected statuses were known, Beasley said.
Some concerns included the fact that law students make up
roughly 10 percent of all graduate students but that law classes
were not in session during the two-day elections. Also, campaign
material was found in restricted areas, violating university
regulations.
Although the board felt valid concerns existed, none were
sufficient enough to fully question the outcome of this year’s
election, said Allen Stout, commissioner of elections and
appointments, and chair of the elections board.
The appeal emerged from an elections process initially plagued
by confusion over deadlines and last minute changes to the
ballot.
The elections board met at a special meeting April 21, resulting
in the addition of three late candidate applicants to the ballot.
Because the late candidates completed the application process and
wrote letters of appeal soon after the April 14 deadline, the board
accepted them to increase democracy, members said.
The original deadline for candidate applications for the three
cabinet positions of president, vice president internal and vice
president external was April 3. Due to a lack of response, the
commissioner of elections extended the closing date by two
weeks.