The ASUC Elections Council held its annual “Point of No Return” meeting Friday, during which it discussed election procedures and finalized the candidates and order of this year’s ballot.
Voting will take place from April 6 to April 8. On the ballot, there will be four parties, two propositions, 12 executive candidates, four candidates for transfer representative and 39 senate candidates.
At the meeting, the Elections Council unanimously voted to move the position of transfer representative into a separate vote from the rest of the senate seats, below the “Student Advocate” candidates on the ballot. The transfer representative position was created after the Transfer Remedy Act was approved by voters in 2019, guaranteeing transfer students a seat in the ASUC Senate for 2020.
The council also debated the concept of community endorsements of candidates and whether an entire community could endorse a candidate. ASUC Elections Council chair James Weichert said at the meeting that he believed an entire community, like the Pilipinx student community or the Black student community, could endorse a candidate if the candidate could provide written documentation that they have been approved by the community. Candidates who do not submit written proof to Weichert by a certain deadline will have the mention of a community endorsement removed from their candidate profile on ballots and informational materials.
To determine the order of the ballot, Weichert put each candidate’s name into an online randomizer. The parties were also randomized to determine the order in which they would show up on the ballot for their senate candidates, as well as on Elections Council materials.
Two propositions will be on the ballot this year. One addresses a student fee for AC Transit and campus shuttle access; the other addresses a graduate student-only referendum regarding the potential for the Graduate Assembly to separate from the ASUC.
All election-related events will be held online this year due to the COVID-19, the coronavirus, pandemic and campus’s switch to online classes. Students can vote through CalLink or a provisional ballot.
