Heading into the final day of the graduate student government election, voter turnout remained low, according to election officials.
By Sunday afternoon, only about 6.5 percent of eligible graduate student voters had cast ballots on MyUCLA, Goodman said.
[Updated at 9 a.m. on Monday: As of Monday at 8 a.m., about 8.4 percent of eligible graduate students had voted, said Daniel Goodman, Graduate Student Association commissioner of elections. About 185 graduate students would have to vote by noon for the voter turnout to reach the 10 percent threshold, he added.]
All four elected GSA positions are uncontested for the second year in a row.
Two referendums are also on the ballot: one asks students to weigh in on recent changes to UCLA’s leave of absence policy and the other proposes a $1.50 quarterly fee increase to fund the Graduate Writing Center.
Goodman said he thinks a lack of graduate student knowledge about the referendums on the ballot and apathy toward GSA from the majority of graduate students has contributed to the low turnout. He said he thinks graduate students do not always notice GSA services until a UCLA policy change directly impacts them.
If voter turnout does not reach 10 percent, the fee increase referendum to support the writing center will automatically fail.
Almost 400 additional graduate students would need to vote to reach the 10 percent threshold, Goodman said. Last year, about 8 percent of graduate students voted, which resulted in the failure of a referendum that would have increased graduate student quarterly fees by $5 every quarter.
Graduate students can vote on MyUCLA until today at noon.
Compiled by Amanda Schallert, Bruin contributor. Contributing reports by Jillian Beck, Bruin senior staff.