Huddled tight in the center of Bruin Plaza on Friday, many LET’S ACT! supporters and candidates kept their eyes down as they waited for the results of the undergraduate student government race for president to be announced.
The slate members had already lost six of the 10 contested seats they were running for in this year’s Undergraduate Students Association Council election to members of Bruins United. LET’S ACT! struggled with a split voter base this year, and two of the losses were particularly rough, with less than 1 percent of votes separating the winners from losers.
To a silent crowd, Election Board Chair Anthony Padilla announced that LET’S ACT! candidate Devin Murphy took the presidency with a slim majority of 50.2 percent of the vote after FIRED UP! presidential candidate Miriam Rodriguez was eliminated from the race.
Screams erupted from the LET’S ACT! circle while, nearby, FIRED UP! supporters and candidates stayed silent, barely reacting to the loss.
As the crowd thinned and members of each slate splintered in different directions, Sunny Singh, the Bruins United presidential candidate, walked over to Murphy and gave the new president-elect a congratulatory hug.
While Singh walked toward Westwood, Avinoam Baral, the internal vice president-elect, spoke to a cheering crowd of Bruins United supporters in front of the Bruin Bear.
“Students don’t feel like USAC matters to them,” Baral said. “I want to change that.”
Baral won 53.4 percent of the vote over LET’S ACT! candidate Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed, whose friends held her as the results were announced.
FIRED UP! members were shut out of every race in the USAC election this year. Of the seven candidates they ran for contested seats, every one was eliminated first when votes were counted.
Though the election was particularly contested, voter turnout dropped to about 30 percent of undergraduate students this year – down from about 37 percent last year.
Next school year, Murphy will lead a council with the exact same slate composition USAC saw this year.
“Slates don’t matter, issues do,” Murphy said. “At the end of it, issues are something all students have to deal with in a split council. We have to unify (as a council).”
Following a year when slate affiliations created tension at the council table, current USAC officers said they fear next year’s council will see a similar pattern of division.
“Slate politics are the poison of USAC,” said Avi Oved, the current USAC internal vice president and member of Bruins United. “You need them to get elected but it’s what divides council (the next year.)”
The three major slates running candidates this year – FIRED UP!, LET’S ACT! and Bruins United – drew criticisms from their opponents throughout the election process. A fourth satirical slate, ¡Bruin Satyrists!, also ran a candidate for General Representative unsuccessfully.
“Next year, we have to work to unify the council to be more efficient,” said Fabienne Roth, who won General Representative 3. “We have to be cohesive because that’s how we’re going to get work done.”
FIRED UP! members had originally planned to run candidates with LET’S ACT! this year, but broke from the slate after members felt LET’S ACT! members were not accurately representing certain student groups in their selection of candidates, among other issues.
After FIRED UP! candidates were eliminated, their votes were redistributed to LET’S ACT! candidates and Bruins United candidates in the instant-runoff voting process. Students rank candidates in their order of preference in USAC election, and each rank counts when votes are calculated.
“The amount of votes we got says that there’s people out there who care about our issues.” Rodriguez said. “Now we have to think about what’s going to happen next.”
Members of LET’S ACT! and FIRED UP! said they are willing to consider working with each other in the future and hope to sit down and talk now that the election is over.
Anh Nguyen, the campaign manager for FIRED UP! and a fourth-year global studies student, said she thinks that FIRED UP! will not need to run candidates next year if USAC becomes more accountable to students. She added that different student groups within LET’S ACT! and FIRED UP! would have to be treated as equal partners and work out their differences if they were to work together in USAC elections in the future.
After results were announced late Friday afternoon, newly elected officers cheered with friends over their wins while other candidates burst into tears or walked away from the crowd after learning about their losses.
Kevin Patterson, a General Representative candidate and member of Bruins United, dropped to the ground and was barricaded by his friends after hearing he lost his race.
“I am not sure I will run again after this loss,” Patterson said.
Members of LET’S ACT! and FIRED UP! splintered away from Bruin Plaza, only to clash later that afternoon. Hostility between the two slates reached a boiling point when a fight broke out between members of LET’S ACT! and FIRED UP!, leading to the arrest of one student for assault and battery.
Some newly elected councilmembers said they hope USAC can push forward to reach across party lines and put election week behind them.
“This has been one of the most dramatic election seasons,” Murphy said in tears. “People from different communities wanted to create slates to have their voices heard (and) I want to facilitate those discussions.”