As results for the undergraduate student government elections were announced Thursday night, there was some confusion and frustration among students as tallies for certain positions were announced and the results were not immediately clear.
Though there was a lack of understanding among students about the new instant runoff and single transferable voting systems and what their ranked votes meant, voter turnout increased from last year by 841 ballots cast, or 2.62 percent, with 30.94 percent of the undergraduate population voting.
In the presidential race, Dave Valk, an independent candidate, had the fewest first-ranked votes at 382, so he was eliminated in the first round.
In the next round after redistribution, Jose Manaiza, an independent presidential candidate, was in last place with 775 votes and was eliminated. This left Gregory Cendana of Students First! with 3,195 votes and Gabe Rose of Bruins United with 3,819 votes, meaning Rose was declared the winner.
Elections Board chairwoman and former Daily Bruin reporter Sandybeth Carrillo attempted to explain in her announcement of the results precisely how candidates for the presidential and general representative races were systematically eliminated and their votes redistributed based on ranked votes to the remaining candidates.
A number of the students present said they were confused during the announcement of the votes, since this is the first year using the instant runoff and single transferable voting systems, and the multiple rounds of elimination in these systems do not necessarily lend themselves to the easy communication of results.
“It could have been clearer, but I wouldn’t blame the election board,” said Bryan Park, a fourth-year political science student who was supporting Bruins United.
“When they did it with the new system, it was confusing because people didn’t know who to cheer for. But this doesn’t matter, because it’s the final name that counts,” he added.
Indeed, when the first-ranked votes for the general representative seats were announced, a number of Students First! supporters cheered because it seemed both their candidates had won, but they did not realize there were more rounds to come in which Mae Cauguiran was eliminated.
Jose Iniguez, a third-year sociology student, and Natalie Gonzalez, a second-year anthropology student, said during their campaigning for Bruins United they found it difficult to explain the voting system to students.
“When we were fliering, people were confused about it,” Gonzalez said.
Iniguez said despite any confusion the new system may have caused, it was still easier than the previous system, which required a second runoff election and took two weeks.
In the general representative race, Michelle Lyon of Bruins United was elected in the first round with 1,749 first place votes.
The threshold needed to win a seat was set by the Elections Board at 1,683 votes. Lyon’s surplus votes were then redistributed to the remaining candidates based on voters’ rankings.
Jesse Rogel of Bruins United, who received the fewest number of first-ranked votes, was then eliminated and his votes were also redistributed.
Based on the new tallies after redistribution, Christina Colosimo of Bruins United was elected and her surplus votes were redistributed, giving Students First! candidate Sanobar Sajan the final seat over fellow Students First! candidate Cauguiran.