News

Election scheduled to select new external VP

By Daily Bruin Staff

Nov. 15, 2000 9:00 p.m.

Â Portia Pedro

By Melody Wang
Daily Bruin Reporter

With the recent announcement of Portia Pedro’s
ineligibility to remain as the Undergraduate Students Association
Council external vice president, new candidate applications are
available today and a special election will be held Nov. 30.

Newly appointed Election Board Chair Alex Kaplan suggested at
Tuesday’s USAC meeting that students vote online for the new
EVP rather than at polling stations on campus.

“Because there’s no budget for the election, in
looking to save money on poll workers, we’re suggesting
online voting through the “˜my.UCLA’ Web page,”
Kaplan said at the meeting.

Undergraduate students, who would be able to vote from any
computer with Internet access during the given time period, would
enter their student identification numbers, Kaplan said. They would
then gain access to a ballot and Web site with brief descriptions
of each candidate.

Pedro, who was declared ineligible Nov. 8, did not meet USAC
eligibility requirements. To maintain eligibility, council members
must be a registered UCLA student, enrolled in at least four units
each quarter and maintain a minimum 2.0 cumulative grade point
average.

Since USAC bylaws state a special election must occur within 15
school days of the day USAC is notified of the vacancy, a regular
election is more difficult to plan, Kaplan said, because poll
workers are usually unavailable to work on such late notice.

“Going into it, we know there may be problems,”
Kaplan said. “I can’t guarantee that these will never
happen, but given the situation we’re in with our deadline
and our budget, this is the best way possible.”

If USAC does not meet the 15-day deadline, the Judicial Board
could examine the council’s violation of its constitution,
said Administrative Representative Lyle Timmerman. But, he noted
he’s never seen council exceed the deadline.

While online voting may save money and time, some council
members were concerned about not being able to regulate campaigning
in areas where students would vote. In a regular election, the
E-Board code does not allow candidates to campaign near polling
stations.

“I’m very much against this process,” said
Internal Vice President Elias Enciso.

Other council members said they were concerned online voting
would allow students to watch others vote, whereas voters at a
polling station would have more privacy.

Cultural Affairs Commissioner Marselle Washington suggested the
E-Board limit the computers that accept votes to certain ones on
campus to better regulate campaigning near polling stations.

Though this would be the first time USAC would hold an online
election, Jerry Mann, director of the Student Union, said
it’s been considered in the past and that the special
election would be an opportunity to test the online voting
system.

“If it works, you may look at it in spring and want to do
it then,” Mann said.

According to Mike Cohn, the E-Board advisor, online voting would
cut back on expenses. While a regular election costs around
$10,000, he said an online election would only cost $150, plus
additional advertising fees.

Online voting could save $8,000 to $10,000 in printing ballots
and paying poll workers and would speed up the election, Cohn
said.

Kaplan presented the council with a tentative schedule for the
special election, which USAC is scheduled to approve at next
Tuesday’s meeting.

Last year, External Vice President Sophia Paek was replaced by
Liz Geyer, who was the EVP the year before. In that case, however,
USAC didn’t hold a special election because they were not
notified of the vacancy until after Dec. 1.

TENTATIVE ELECTION CALENDAR

To fill the recent vacancy of the Undergraduate Students
Association Council expternal vice president position, a special
election is scheduled for Nov. 30.

Thursday, Nov. 16 Â