Correction Appended
The undergraduate student government voting season will kick off
early this year with a special election on an initiative that would
establish how the election process will be conducted in the
future.
The amendment, proposed by General Representative Josh Lawson,
was first introduced last fall and would modify the voting
procedures for the Undergraduate Students Association Council
general election later in the quarter.
Lawson and his office have been collecting signatures since last
fall and have put in over 20 hours of work campaigning on campus
and on the Hill. They have collected nearly 3,000 signatures in
support of a special election.
The petition was presented to USAC and according to council
bylaws, a special election must be held within 15 days.
The special election will be held only weeks before the general
election.
The schedule for the general election was also determined
Tuesday night, with voting set to take place during sixth week.
The proximity of the special election to the general one ““
only three weeks ““ has caused concern from the election board
and some members of council.
The special election will put increased strain on the E-board
and make it more difficult for them to do the work needed for the
general election, said E-board chair Roy Samaan.
“Our resources are going to be spread much more
thinly,” Samaan said, adding that the special election will
take focus away from work on the general election.
There is also concern from some councilmembers that the special
election will cause “voter burnout” and decrease voting
in the general election.
Some councilmembers also said they saw the initiative as a
political move by Lawson, who will be running for USAC president as
an independent candidate.
“What this initiative is really about is one member
spending a lot of money to cover up the fact that he hasn’t
addressed the issues that really affect the students … to advance
himself,” said External Vice President Matt Kaczmarek.
But Lawson said the initiative was not motivated by personal
gain but by a desire to give all students an “equal
opportunity to vote” by explicitly stating that all students
have the right to vote.
Other councilmembers deny the need for an amendment, saying that
all students already have the right to vote.
The amendment would also eliminate the five-minute delay between
voting on off-campus computers and would designate all computers
with Internet access as polling places.
Councilmembers have expressed concerns that these changes may
taint the voting process.
Without a delay, it may be too easy for groups to block-vote and
taint the elections, said Sophia Kozak, academic affairs
commissioner.
Also, if students can vote from all Internet locations, it will
be difficult, if not impossible, to assure protected polling zones
and voter privacy, Kaczmarek added.
Due to the hesitancy of some members of council, Lawson chose to
bring a petition directly to the student body and put the proposal
to the test in a special election.
The decision to go ahead with the petition despite USAC’s
concerns drew a great deal of criticism from councilmembers Tuesday
night.
“Council has expressed a lot of concern that should have
been addressed,” said President Anica McKesey at the USAC
meeting, adding that Lawson’s to work independently from
council was problematic.
The election will take place during either second or third week
and votes can be cast at MyUCLA. If the initiative passes, the
modified voting procedure would be used for this year’s
general election.
Correction: April 9, 2004, Friday
Josh Lawson’s political affiliation was stated
incorrectly. He is affiliated with the Equal Access Coalition.