GSA Elections Board opts to uphold fee referendum after validity is challenged
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 26, 2010 10:16 p.m.
After reviewing a petition to invalidate the ballot referendum regarding the withholding of fees from the University of California Students Association, the Graduate Students Association Elections Board decided Monday night to keep the referendum as stated on the ballot.
The complaint, filed Saturday, called for the referendum to be discarded from the election based on the grounds that the online ballot linked voters to a website containing an incorrect version of the referendum’s proposed changes to the GSA constitution.
“After taking into consideration the formal complaint and all the issues that were brought up, we decided that the supplemental information on the website that was linked from the ballot was not actually part of the ballot,” said Mohamed Jukaku, GSA Elections commissioner. “Because the information on the ballot itself was correct as well as the information on the GSA website, we decided to keep the ballot intact as it is.”
Though the UCSA fee referendum stands, the Elections Board will make a recommendation to the GSA Forum that it take measures to prevent such a situation from happening again.
Without an invalidation of the referendum, the graduate student body stands to lose a fair election, said Jeremy Cogan, vice chair of the graduate social sciences council.
“Students are the unfortunate victims because they weren’t able to necessarily vote in a fully transparent election,” Cogan said. “Many students were confused by the ballot and potentially disenfranchised.”
Per GSA code, election results remained sealed until all appeals were addressed. With the referendum issue resolved, the Elections Board will unseal the results and announce the winners today.
Compiled by Crystal Hsing, Daily Bruin contributor
