USAC opts to maintain shorter voting period for elections

Polls for the undergraduate student government elections will remain open for three days in May, despite attempts by some student government officials to lengthen the voting period.

The voting timespan for this year’s Undergraduate Students Association Council elections calendar runs from May 6-8, on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of sixth week. In recent years, the period has lasted four days, to include the Monday of elections week.

After debating about changing the USAC elections calendar to include four voting days and withdrawing approval from the current calendar, the council decided to not make any changes with a vote of 4-6-1.

At the meeting, Election Board Chair Anthony Padilla said he did not want to change the calendar at the request of USAC because the council already approved the elections calendar.

“I will not stand for the adjustment of the election calendar by USAC,” Padilla said. Padilla added that he thinks a change to the calendar at the request of USAC would threaten the impartiality critical to his position.

USAC unanimously approved the spring elections calendar on Feb. 11 after about 10 minutes of deliberation. But last week, some councilmembers expressed concerns about the shorter voting period, citing the possibility of decreased voter turnout as a main point of contention.

Padilla said he changed the voting period because he wanted students to have Monday to reflect on the elections and the candidates.

Compiled by Joseph Vescera, Bruin contributor.