Troy Isaac knew his campaign would be an uphill battle.
Isaac, a former independent candidate for Undergraduate Students
Association Council president and a third-year political science
student, spent more money on his campaign than any slate and still
ended up with only 17.25 percent of the vote ““ not enough to
make it to this week’s runoff elections.
Slates ““ groups of candidates with similar ideologies that
pool their resources during elections ““ have become almost
necessary for getting elected to USAC, as indicated by last
year’s primary election, where only one independent candidate
out of 14 who began the elections remained on the ballot.
This year, out of a relatively large candidate pool of 16
students running as independents, only one made it to the runoff
election, aside from three who were elected to in-house commission
offices. The in-house commissioners, including the Campus Events,
Student Welfare and Community Service commissioners, traditionally
pull candidates from the same office and usually run unopposed.
Candidates agree that slates provide big advantages, from
knowing the rules of the election to having more volunteers
campaigning.
The two established slates, Students First! and Bruins United,
have student groups that officially endorse them and ask those
group members to vote for their candidates. With a voter turnout of
31 percent, an endorsement from a large student group can have a
big impact on an election. Independent candidates are rarely
offered endorsements from student groups.
Darren Chan, the internal vice president from 2004-2005, is the
only independent candidate other than the traditionally independent
in-house commissioners to be elected in recent years.
Elias Dabaie, a third-year political science and public policy
student who ran for general representative as an independent, said
running without a slate was difficult.
“Everything (about the campaign) was hard because I was
doing it alone,” Dabaie said. “Just putting up a sign
or getting a flier approved is hard, and when you are aligned with
a slate you have that experience to back you up.”
Dabaie, along with five other independents, was disqualified the
day before voting began for failing to turn in on time an estimate
of campaign expenses.
Established slates like Students First! and Bruins United also
have the benefit of experience and hundreds of volunteers to help
with campaigning, Isaac said.
Despite spending a total of $6,956.41 on his campaign ““ 34
percent of all candidates’ expenditures combined ““
Isaac received 1,044 votes, not enough to advance to the
runoff.
One aspect of the campaign that makes it very hard for
independent candidates to win is the learning curve, Isaac said. It
can be hard for candidates to run for a position without experience
on council, and there are difficulties getting your message out
without the backing of a slate, he said.
Candidates from Slate Refund, which emerged just this year, said
they faced many of the same problems independent candidates have
encountered, and did not get elected.
“In reality, we had no idea what to expect going into the
campaign,” said Garin Hovannisian, a third-year history
student and former Daily Bruin columnist who ran as the Slate
Refund presidential candidate.
Slate Refund did not know the “ins and outs” of the
election code, a 27-page document outlining all of the campaign
rules, and did not know certain aspects of campaigning, such as
what tools to use to put up Bruin Walk signboards, Hovannisian
said.
Isaac said another problem independents face is not having the
volunteers available as slates do.
“I had to focus my campaigning to high traffic areas on
campus, because I couldn’t be everywhere at once,” he
said.
Despite the lack of success for independent and new candidates,
some who have run remain hopeful. Slate Refund candidates said they
plan to be back next year.
“Troy and I are newcomers, but (combined) we got a quarter
of the votes, which could not be done by a third party in national
elections. Over time, new slates and independents could do very
well,” Hovannisian said.