Tuesday, May 12, 1998
Turnout, SAGE opposition hinder elections
GSA: Fraud accusations, lack of voters will hurt proposal
implementation amid accusations of fraud
By Ann Hawkey
Daily Bruin Contributor
After an election crippled by controversy and low voter turnout,
the Graduate Students Association now has a new set of elected
officials but still no changes to its constitution.
The new GSA president is Joanna Brooks. Brooks plans to use her
position to make GSA a more effective organization working for the
graduate students. She plans to do this by making the central
office more efficient, beginning by giving back her presidential
stipend.
Vice president-internal for next year will be Meredith Neuman,
who looks to strengthen the infrastructure of GSA. Neuman plans to
improve outreach to the various councils and student groups
affected by GSA.
Former USAC president York Chang won the office of vice
president-external, emphasizing his experience on USAC and looking
to the future of GSA as a more effective body with the ability to
lobby for the implementation of new legislation.
Continuing its tradition of low voter turnout, GSA failed to
reach the 10 percent mark necessary for implementation of this
year’s proposals. GSA has attained 10 percent of the vote only once
in the past 11 years, the last time being in 1989.
This year, low voter turnout will prevent the passage of the
dental insurance initiatives and the five proposed constitutional
amendments.
The amendments on the ballot that would have passed include an
alteration to the quorum mark for the GSA Forum, a streamlining of
the special election process and the creation of a Public Policy
Council and the position of vice president of academic affairs. The
initiative to increase GSA fees would not have passed even if 10
percent of the graduate students had cast votes.
In addition to low voter turnout in this year’s elections, GSA
was also overwhelmed by complaints from SAGE representatives.
SAGE has opposed the elections, with allegations of bias and
attempts to sway the votes, especially concerning a survey on the
ballot regarding labor issues.
Elections Commissioner David Cordes felt these accusations did
not impact the election process itself.
"The Election Board’s only job is to make sure the election is
fair," said Cordes.
Most of these complaints stemmed from the survey regarding labor
issues, yet despite SAGE fears, the results of the survey were
decidedly in favor of the organization.
When asked whether or not they supported SAGE as the formally
recognized labor union, 544 graduate students said yes, as opposed
to 200 not in support and 88 voters undecided. This support
declined to 446 voters, however, when posed with the possibility of
union dues.
SAGE representatives claimed the survey could possibly bias the
voters, thus harming SAGE’s campaign to gain university
recognition.
Supporters of the survey argued that the optional survey was
simply a way for graduate students to express their feelings on the
labor union; it was non-binding and did not directly advocate or
oppose SAGE.
Even after the completion of the election, SAGE representatives
continued to file complaints, challenging not only the survey but
the validity of the entire election process.
Saturday, SAGE representative and former GSA candidate Mark
Quigley submitted a list of complaints to the GSA election board.
Allegations ranged from inadequate publicity of the election to
questions of possible voter fraud. Discontent with the survey was
also mentioned.
"There are 21 different points, and taken together they would
draw into question the credibility of the election," said Joe
Nevins, a SAGE representative who presented the complaints to the
GSA election board.
Nevins hoped that, after considering the complaints, the GSA
election board would either throw out the election results or
postpone tallying the votes. After discussing each point of
contention, however, a perceived lack of proof for any of the
allegations led election members to disregard them.
"Possibility does not invalidate a process," said David Cordes,
GSA elections commissioner. "Is there proof or enough plausibility
to invalidate this election?"
GSA President Andrew Westall agreed with the lack of evidence to
support Quigley’s claims.
"You guys haven’t proven a damn thing yet, and I’d like to see
it," Westall said.
In a session following the public meeting, members of the
election board did admit to some truth behind some of Quigley’s
complaints, but they did not feel these points warranted
discrediting the election results.
After hours of combing the votes for irregularities indicating
possible fraud, the elections board accepted the election as valid
and continued with counting the ballots.
As chief executive office of GSA, Brooks will hold much of the
responsibility of governing GSA. She will act as a representative
of GSA in all UCLA campus affairs, as well as to the ASUCLA Board
of Directors and will recommend a budget for the Central Office in
the spring.
The vice president-internal’s responsibilities include joint
responsibility of both the central office expenditures and those of
the various councils. Neuman will take charge of calling and
conducting meetings of the Assembly and Forum and meeting of the
Council Presidents.
The position of vice president-external involves representation
of GSA to various organizations of the university, including the
University of California Students Association, the systemwide
Academic Senate and the UCLA Alumni Association. Chang must also
consult regularly with the Forum, the Assembly and the Cabinet, and
council presidents.