Editorial: USAC should reconsider approval of shortened election period
By Editorial Board
April 14, 2014 12:43 a.m.
The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information.
For the last seven years the undergraduate student government election voting period has run from Monday through Thursday of election week.
But this year’s Undergraduate Students Association Council Election Board Chair Anthony Padilla opted to veer away from precedent. The new voting period would clip Monday out completely, instead running from just 9 a.m. Tuesday to 5 p.m. Thursday of sixth week.
USAC already struggles with student engagement and voter turnout, and the Election Board should be focusing on what it can do to increase participation, not potentially detract from it.
The shortened period is also arguably a violation of the Election Board’s own code. The governing document of the Election Board mandates that voting must span a minimum of “three full days.”
Padilla interprets this to mean business days, but precedent indicates otherwise. Past Election Boards interpreted it as three full, 24-hour days, not business days.
In 2007, voting lasted from Monday at 7 p.m. to Thursday at 7 p.m., a time frame that would be maintained through 2009. In 2010, voting lasted from Monday at 8 p.m. to Thursday at 8 p.m. And the list goes on.
Under this year’s voting period, students will have less than 2 1/2 days to cast their votes.
The reason for the change, according to Padilla, is to give students time on the Monday of election week to reflect on the information they’ve received about the candidates before voting.
But with the Meet the Candidates event two weeks prior to the election, the student group endorsement hearing the week prior and the candidates’ debate the Saturday prior, students have plenty of time to digest information about the candidates and ballot initiatives before sixth week.
Why keep all students from voting Monday for the sake of an unknowable number who might want more time to think about their decisions? Further, if students don’t feel ready to vote come Monday, it’s their prerogative to wait until they are. They have until Thursday of that week to do so.
In a similarly large misstep, Padilla did not reach out to students to gather their opinions about this change. When asked about this oversight, Padilla said he didn’t have sufficient time. Perhaps if Padilla had taken an additional day to talk to students, his decision would have been more informed.
While Padilla’s time crunch is partially USAC’s fault for appointing him to his position so late in the year, the onus still fell on Padilla to reach out to students if he wanted to make such an unprecedented change.
Last week several USAC officers expressed concerns over the shortened period, but a vote to rescind approval of the election calendar failed 4-6-1. We urge the councilmembers who voted against changing the calendar back to rethink their decision before it gets closer to election.
The Election Board chair needs to stand up to student government officials when they pose a threat to fair and vibrant election. This is not such an occasion.
It falls on Padilla to backpedal on this decision. If he fails to do so, USAC should move to rescind its approval of the election calendar.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the editorial board.
Correction: The USAC elections voting period will run from 9 a.m. Tuesday to 5 p.m. Thursday of sixth week.
