ASUCD Special Elections allows students to vote on legislative referendums.
ASUCD Special Elections start on Tuesday, May 10 at midnight and end Thursday, May 12 at midnight, with two measures on the ballot for students to vote on this year: the ASUCD Judicial Branch Amendment and Dissolution of the ASUCD Outreach Assembly. Each ballot needs a “yes” vote of 60 percent or higher in order to pass.
Dissolution of the ASUCD Outreach Assembly
This referendum will remove the outreach assembly from the ASUCD constitution starting next academic year. The outreach assembly has long served as a way of bridging the gap between ASUCD and the student body; with its removal, ASUCD hopes to streamline the filling of positions in ASUCD Court.
“What [this referendum] will do now is strengthen our outreach efforts,” said Alex Lee, a third-year communication and political science double major and ASUCD president. “Our outreach and recruitment efforts are now going to be done in the executive branch.”
ASUCD Judicial Branch Amendment
This amendment to the ASUCD constitution will allow ASUCD Court’s chief justice to replace the Elections Committee chairperson as a member of the Interviewing Committee for ASUCD Court members. Originally, the Elections Committee chairperson was a member of the Interviewing Committee for ASUCD Court members. With the passing of the Judicial Branch Amendment, the chief justice will resume the position of Elections Committee chairperson.
“This special election is important because it’s amending the constitution for integral procedural operations,” Lee said. “So it can streamline the filling of the ASUCD Court.”
As stated in the ballot, the amendment will “allow the Interviewing Committee to be more qualified in making decisions” with regards to the ASUCD Court.
“[The amendment] generally just fills the vacancies on the court much faster,” Lee said. “Right now we have an empty court and we’ve had an empty court for [almost] half a year.”
As opposed to the winter 2016 elections, this spring’s special elections do not require a minimum voter turnout in order for both measures to be considered. Lee hopes that students take part in the voting process, in order to better understand how UC Davis’ student government works.
“I think it’s important for students to vote because while it might not be the most exciting elections, it is important to see how the government is working and it really shows [we change] how we do things, [and] not just stick with a broken model forever,” Lee said.
You can cast your vote at elections.ucdavis.edu anytime before Thursday, May 12 at midnight.
Written by: Ellie Dierking — features@theaggie.org
