Reacting to concerns over low voter turnout in the primary
elections for the Undergraduate Students Association Council, many
candidates said they will focus on expanding their supporter bases
for this week’s runoff elections.
In last week’s primary elections, the results of which
were announced May 11, just six of the 13 positions on the
undergraduate student government were decided. The others will be
decided by runoff elections, which will be held Tuesday through
Thursday via MyUCLA.
Both Bruins United and Students First! candidates said they were
disappointed by voter turnout in the primary elections.
Twenty-eight percent of the undergraduate student body, or 6,552
students, voted in the primary election. Last year, 31 percent of
students voted.
“We were all a little disappointed,” said General
Representative Marwa Kaisey, a third-year neuroscience student and
the Bruins United candidate for president. “(High voter
turnout) was our focus before, but it’s really going to be
our focus now.”
Kaisey led her opponent, third-year American literature and
culture and Chicana/o studies student Lucero Chavez, in the
presidential race by 19 votes.
Brenda Robles, a third-year sociology and Chicana/o studies
student and the Students First! candidate for Academic Affairs
commissioner, said her slate also planned to revamp its “Get
Out the Vote” efforts.
“We need to work as a group to try to mobilize ourselves
better,” she said. “I think we definitely need to
target people who aren’t affiliated with a platform and
really outreach to those students.”
Members of both slates said they were interested in gaining the
support of students who voted for independent or Slate Refund
candidates during the primaries.
No independent candidates made it to runoffs, but Troy Isaac, a
third-year political science student and an independent
presidential candidate who was eliminated in the primaries,
received over 1,000 votes.
Isaac said Thursday after the results were announced that he
will endorse Kaisey and encourage his supporters to vote for her in
the runoffs.
Six of the nine Slate Refund candidates each received over 10
percent of student votes.
Shauna Peterson, a second-year political science student and a
candidate for general representative, is the only Slate Refund
candidate who will advance to runoffs.
Peterson and Kaisey said Slate Refund and Bruins United would
also collaborate for the runoffs.
Peterson said she would run in conjunction with Bruins United,
which is only running two candidates for three open general
representative positions, though she will still be affiliated with
Slate Refund.
Slate Refund’s message will change slightly as a result of
the slate’s overall loss in the election and Peterson’s
decision to work with Bruins United in the run-offs, Peterson
said.
Rather than promises of refunding students’ mandatory
Undergraduate Students Association fees, she said she would focus
on promises of better fiscal responsibility in USAC.
“We’re committed to achieving (the fee refund) in
the future, but I’m not sure how feasible it will be this
year,” Peterson said.
Kaisey said she thinks Peterson’s ideas are compatible
with Bruins United and Peterson could work well with the Bruins
United general representative candidates.
Still, candidates said their personal campaign strategies would
not change much from primaries to runoffs.
“We’re going to stick with the same strategy, which
is to talk to as many students as we can,” Kaisey said.
“The pressure’s just on a little more. We want to
really impress the closeness of the races on our friends and
supporters.”
Robles also said personal contact with voters is key. “For
me, just talking to people out on Bruin Walk is the most
effective,” she said. “That’s when I’m able
to articulate myself the best.”