Election Board deems FIRED UP! ineligible following late application
Members of the FIRED UP! slate gathered in spring to hear election results following the undergraduate student government election. Four students who tried to run with the slate this year were deemed ineligible because they submitted their applications seven minutes late. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Sam Hoff
March 17, 2015 2:00 a.m.
The FIRED UP! slate is not allowed to run candidates in the upcoming undergraduate student government election, after four students submitted their candidate application packets seven minutes past the deadline.
Undergraduate Students Association Council Election Board Chair Shagun Kabra said the applicants submitted the online portion of their applications at 11:53 a.m. on Friday, seven minutes before the noon deadline, but did not submit paper application packets until 12:07 p.m. The slate did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This election is the first time the Election Board has recognized slates, or groups of students that run on similar platforms, and required them to officially register before participating. Candidates, however, are always required to submit packets to run.
This is also the first time in recent memory that USAC candidates have been deemed ineligible for submitting their applications shortly after the deadline, Kabra said.
The USAC Election Board discussed whether the candidates could be eligible to run, but members decided that extending the deadline would give the FIRED UP! candidates an unfair advantage over others, Kabra said.
Three other slates – Bruins United and LET’S ACT!, which are running full slates, and The After Party, which is running one candidate – submitted their applications before the deadline, Kabra said. He added that he reached out to several slates to give them courtesy reminders about the deadline.
FIRED UP!, which formed in 2014 and is composed of several cultural student groups, ran seven candidates for last year’s USAC election. None of the candidates won.
If slate members want to appeal the Election Board’s decision, they must appeal the decision in writing to the USAC Judicial Board by 5 p.m. the second school day after the decision, according to the USAC Election Code.
The students can also appeal the decision to USAC, Kabra said.
Compiled by Sam Hoff, Bruin senior staff.
