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Student body elections may face delay

By Daily Bruin Staff

March 12, 1997 9:00 p.m.

Thursday, March 13, 1997

USAC:

Officers need

to fill vacated position for voting proceduresBy Stefanie
Wong

Daily Bruin Contributor

The resignation of Edwin Rivera as Election Board (E-Board)
chairperson earlier this quarter has caused a potential delay in
next quarter’s election for the Undergraduate Student Association
Council (USAC) officers.

The E-Board is responsible for organizing and monitoring the
student government elections every Spring Quarter.

Prior to the elections, the E-Board is supposed to make any
necessary modifications to the election code, establish the
timetable for the elections and make any other decisions that
pertain to the elections.

However, with the lack of a chairperson and with no board
members appointed to the E-Board in general, these tasks have not
been completed, which may cause elections to take place later than
usual next quarter.

"It won’t necessarily affect the timetable but it does put the
individual at a disadvantage because there is not a lot of time to
prepare, but it is doable," said Mike Cohn, the Election Board
adviser from the Center for Student Programming.

USAC decided to conduct its search for a chairperson internally,
instead of going beyond to those not involved with the student
government, because of the timeliness of the situation.

According to USAC Internal Vice President Glenn Inanaga, the
process of advertising, accepting applications and reviewing
applicants would have taken time that was not available.

"We felt that there wasn’t enough time to (advertise) so we
followed the election code and John (Du) chose just to appoint
someone," Inanaga said. "It was my recommendation that we find
someone within student government who already knew the procedures
and the issues."

Telly Tse, who is on the internal vice president’s staff, is
currently the only applicant for the position and received the
recommendation for approval by the Appointments Review
Committee.

Tse’s involvement with the student government has raised
questions of his ability to remain neutral but his knowledge of
student government may help him fill the job efficiently.

"Although the Election Board chair should remain impartial, I
think that the most important characteristic for this year should
be someone who is logistically sound or has very good time
management skills because we’re talking about just getting the job
done," Inanaga said.

"I’m not necessarily so worried about the politics of this
individual just now," he added.

However, some students question whether the issue of time and
the pressing situation of elections was reason enough not go
outside of the student government.

"I understand the need to find someone quickly and the time that
they would waste by trying to find someone outside (of USAC)
through advertising. But I also see that this situation may cause
some problems because students may question and protest the
impartiality of the person," said Crystal Borde, a first-year
English student.

"We’d spend all the time going through the appeals and dealing
with the problem and it may waste more time than if someone was
just appointed from an outside pool of applicants," she added.

But despite the desire to find someone who would be able to
assume the duties of the position quickly and efficiently, the
appointment has not yet been made.

USAC President John Du is currently looking for other qualified
candidates, according to Inanaga.

But if none are found by next Wednesday’s emergency USAC
meeting, the student council will make its final decision on the
E-Board chairperson appointment.

"If there is no one else, Telly’s got it for sure," Inanaga
said. "It all depends if (Du) can find someone else."

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