Voting for USAC positions begins today

By Linh Tat

Daily Bruin Staff

After weeks of campaigning and debates surrounding Undergraduate
Students Association Council elections, students can finally cast
their votes today and Thursday.

Four of the 11 positions are being contested; all other
candidates are running unopposed. Two referenda and a survey
question will also appear on the ballot.

“Voting is essential to student empowerment,” said
Nicole Lynch, chairwoman of USAC’s Election Board.
“Students need to represent themselves. The only way they can
do that is through voting.”

Students can cast their votes between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. at 10
polling locations, which are staffed by ROTC members. Students must
present their Bruin ID card to vote.

On Thursday evening, the E-Board will count the number of
ballots turned in and then a computerized machine will calculate
the number of votes each candidate receives.

There was a 29.2 percent voter turnout last year, but Lynch
expects more students to vote this year.

“It’s going to be competitive,” Lynch said.
“We’ll probably have runoffs because you need a certain
percentage of the votes to win the primary. It’s difficult to
do that with four candidates for president.”

Although four candidates appear on the ballot as running for
President, Mani Foroohar informed the Daily Bruin that he is not
running.

The other contested offices are the Internal Vice President,
Academic Affairs Commissioner and General Representatives.

For all the positions except General Representative, a candidate
must receive half of the votes plus one to win the primary.

For the three general representative positions, each candidate
must receive more than 25 percent of the votes cast for the office
to win. If this doesn’t happen, then for each remaining spot
the two candidates with the most number of votes in the primary
advance to a runoff election.

Runoff elections will take place May 17-18 if necessary. The
candidate receiving the most number of votes for each office will
win.

Students will also be voting on two referenda.

The Student Programs, Activities and Resource Complex Referendum
proposes a $28 quarterly fee ““ slated to go into effect 2004
““ to help pay for renovations to the Men’s Gym and the
Wooden Center, which would house recreation facilities, the
Women’s Resource Center and Student Psychological
Services.

The second referendum proposes a $2 per quarter increase to the
current USAC fee. The extra money would go to support student
participation in the United States Student Association and the
University of California Student Association.

Students are also asked to answer a survey question on the
ballot regarding how the student regent should be selected from a
pool of system-wide candidates. Student responses will be used for
advisory purposes only.

The flurry of campaign activities have turned some students away
from the elections.

“When students feel bombarded and overwhelmed, it does
give them a sense of resentment for all these political
machines,” said Van Senh Lam, a fifth-year economics and
sociology student.

“But I feel it’s necessary to get the word
out,” Lam continued. “How else would students be
informed?”

Students passing out flyers on Bruin Walk agreed that publicity
is important.

“This is the only way the candidates can get out and
really meet the people,” said Cory Birkhauser, a second-year
mathematics and economics student, while campaigning for
presidential candidate Jason Lautenschleger.

Volunteers also said their goal is to help students and not
frustrate or irritate them.

“We respect their space, but we encourage them and remind
them to vote,” said Delia Herrera, a third-year sociology and
Chicana/o studies student who volunteered to pass out flyers for
the Praxis slate.

Lam said the elections would be more effective if they were held
closer to the beginning of the quarter before midterms begin.

“At a time when the majority of students have midterms,
they’re not going to have time to check out the
candidates,” Lam said, adding that he would read up on the
candidates after his midterm Tuesday.

POLLING LOCATIONS FOR THE 2000 UNDERGRADUATE ASSOCIATION
COUNCIL ELECTIONS 1. Bruin Walk – Northwest Corner of
Pauley Pavilion 2. Between Kerchoff and Moore Hall 3. Ackerman
turnaround located near the Bus Stop 4. Bruin Plaza Bruin walk
across from the Bear 5. Royce Quad between Powell Library and Royce
Hall 6. Quad – Northwest corner of Royce Hall, between Rolfe and
Royce 7. Bunche Hall Southwest of Bunche Hall 8. Inverted Fountain
by Franz and Knudsen Hall 9. Court of Sciences by Young, Math
Sciences, and Franz Hall 10. Men’s Gym 11. Covel Commons Southwest
of Covel Commons Original by MAGGIE WOO Web adaptaion by HERNANE
TABAY/Daily Bruin