USAC votes to extend voting period for election to Friday

The undergraduate student government voted at its meeting Tuesday night to extend the voting period for next week’s election to run until Friday afternoon.

Polls will now open Tuesday at 9 a.m. and close Friday, May 9 at noon, keeping voting open on MyUCLA for 75 continuous hours. Election results will be announced at 4 p.m. Friday.

After a heated debate between some Undergraduate Students Association Council members and the Election Board, the council approved the new election calendar with a 6-4-1 vote on the condition that the board allow students to flier on campus on Monday from 12 to 5 p.m. Passing out fliers will also be allowed on Friday, May 9 from 9 a.m. to noon. following the changes.

General Representative Sunny Singh abstained from voting to avoid a perceived conflict of interest because he is a current candidate. Internal Vice President Avi Oved, Academic Affairs Commissioner Darren Ramalho, General Representative Sam Haws and Financial Supports Commissioner Lauren Rogers voted against the new calendar.

Earlier this week, the USAC Judicial Board ordered the Election Board to change the calendar and extend its voting period after finding that it violated the Election Code by not running for a full 72 hours. The previous voting period lasted from 9 a.m. Tuesday to 5 p.m. Thursday, but the USAC Election Code states that polls must be open at least “three full days.”

The extension of voting hours was ordered after former Election Board member Ian Cocroft filed a petition against the current Election Board.

Councilmembers said fliers would ensure that students would be able to educate themselves about the different campaigns before voting on Tuesday morning. USAC Election Board chair Anthony Padilla said he was disappointed in the councilmembers’ request because he thinks it will make the elections less sustainable.

At the meeting, Padilla initially presented the council with a calendar with voting lasting from 9 a.m. Tuesday to 3 p.m. Friday, but the Election Board decided to close polls earlier Friday after Oved raised concerns about the announcement of election results interfering with the Jewish Shabbat.

Jewish students running for office might not have been able to attend the event where results are announced, since services for Shabbat start around 5 p.m. Friday, Oved said.

After Padilla amended the calendar to accommodate the religious conflict, Oved and other councilmembers still voted down the proposal in a 4-6-1 vote and said they were not satisfied with the calendar beginning on Tuesday instead of Monday like it has for the past seven years.

Some councilmembers said they didn’t understand why the change was made in the first place, and they did not think Padilla had a good reason for going against precedent. Padilla has said he changed the calendar to give students a chance to reflect on the election and become more educated about the candidates.

“That may be a precedent to start on Monday, but traditions change,” Padilla said.

After debating about the voting period starting on Monday, Padilla said he would not push back the calendar. He said he thought it would be unfair to students who were already prepared to vote on Tuesday to change the schedule.

Councilmembers also raised concerns about block voting at the meeting. USAC External Vice President Maryssa Hall said she thought starting voting Tuesday was a good idea because she thinks some student organizations use block voting on Monday to gather votes for the elections.

Ramalho said he thinks block voting happens during the other days of elections too, so eliminating Monday would not make a difference.

Visibly frustrated, Padilla said that the Election Board brought the council a new calendar that satisfied the Judicial Board’s order and listened to concerns while USAC was not willing to compromise.

“The only reason that we’re here is because there are political divisions,” Padilla said. “The only thing that is stopping this calendar isUSAC.”

During the discussion, several councilmembers questioned how much influence USAC should have in elections, considering they appoint the Election Board as an impartial third party to make election-related decisions.

“Why do you have appointments if not have these third party actors?” said Cynthia Jasso, USAC Finance Committee chair. “What are you saying about the appointment process itself, the importance of appointments and the idea that they are supposed to be neutral?”

The Election Board clarified that the Election Code states that they set the calendar with the approval of USAC. USAC can give input, but in the end the Election Board sets the specifics of the calendar.

Councilmembers and the Election Board eventually reached a compromise after Facilities Commissioner Armen Hadjimanoukian, who had previously voted against the calendar, said he would vote for the new calendar if fliers were allowed Monday.

Election Board members ultimately agreed to alter the calendar, especially because the meeting was the last chance for USAC to approve a new calendar before the election.