Voting for the 2007-2008 undergraduate student government is set to begin tonight at 7 p.m. on the MyUCLA Web site and will go until Thursday at 7 p.m.
Elections Board Chairwoman Sandybeth Carrillo said students will be able to vote by logging on to MyUCLA, where there will be a banner at the top of the page with the link to the ballot.
Bruins United presidential candidate Gabe Rose said he hopes through this election students will learn more about their student government, how it affects them and how they can get involved.
“I think a lot of time, students don’t realize what USAC is and what it does for them, so I hope students come out of this election seeing how USAC is relevant to them and participate and make their voices heard,” said Rose, a third-year political science and communication studies student.
Students will vote using ranked-choice voting, where they rank the candidates for each office in descending order of preference by marking their first-choice candidate with the number 1, and so on. Voters are not required to rank every candidate on the ballot and are allowed to leave a vote for a specific office blank.
Students First! presidential candidate Gregory Cendana, a third-year sociology student, said he hopes students do not have a hard time with the new system.
“I hope students aren’t too confused with the new process, but we’re willing to talk to anyone about (it),” he said.
Though voting does not begin until this evening, Carrillo said students will be able to view a preview ballot earlier in the day that includes links to the statements of each candidate and a list of their endorsements.
One significant change from past elections is that this election is the first to utilize the ranked-choice voting system, shortening the election from two weeks to three days by allowing for the immediate retabulation of votes in case of a runoff, rather than having an additional runoff election.
Carrillo said this election is also key because of the creation of a voting guide that was sent to students last Thursday in a notice on MyUCLA. It is also available on the USAC Web site.
“This election is momentous in that we’ve had … the first ever voting guide and a new voting system. I hope that students at UCLA start realizing what USAC is and … go vote,” she said.
Carrillo said normally the election results are available two hours after voting ends, but because of the new voting system, the mathematical retabulation of votes may take more time.