Elections Committee – Flashback 2012-2013

Introduction

The Elections Committee makes sure that the campus-wide elections, which are held during Spring quarter, follow A.S. campus regulations and are fair to everyone involved.

Election Committee — Left to Right: Ruth Garcia-Guevarra, Claire Fox, Suzanne Perkins, Sophia Armen, Courtney Axner, Jordan LaMarche, Nadia Mounzih, Hannah Yen, Sean Lieberman, Aaron Jones, and Marisela Marquez

Lock-In Reaffirmations

This year was a particularly important for A.S. Elections, because most A.S. groups were up due to have their lock-ins reaffirmed. According to the AS Constitution, all lock-ins initiated through the A.S. Elections process are placed on the ballot for reaffirmation every two years. There were eighteen A.S. lock-ins up for reaffirmation this year. As in past years, A.S. responded with an informational “Care to Know” campaign to let the campus know why these lock-ins are important and why the A.S. groups in question deserve continued student support.

407988_575558665796568_1901693053_n — Poster by Senior Artist Beth Ramone

The groups up for reaffirmation were Bike Shop, Bicycle System (Bike Comm), Childcare (Grant), (KCSB) Communications Personnel , CAB, Community Financial Fund, EAB, IV Improvements (IVCRC), IVTU, Legal Service (LRC), Recycling, SCORE, Shoreline (Coastal Fund), Womyn’s Commission, Take Back The Night, UC Student Association, KCSB, and Program Board

In anticipation of the election A.S. launched an educational campaign that neither endorsed nor opposed a particular fee initiative on the ballot, but rather raised awareness of Associated Students and its countless contributions to UCSB and the surrounding community. All lock-in receiving BCCs contributed to an educational campaign account to be used to spread awareness about A.S. during the first four weeks of Spring Quarter. The goal was to raise between $8000-$10,000 for the campaign with all A.S. groups contributing what they could and all groups being equally represented in the informational campaign.

Two years ago, in advance of the last A.S. Reaffirmation of this size, students and staff strategized the “Care To Know” Associated Students campaign. This time the education campaign employed several mediums, including quarter-sheets, 8&1/2×11 and 11×17 fliers and posters, buttons, Nexus and TBL ads, created links via the AS website to all sorts of information, OrgSync, Digi-Knows and more!

Because the A.S. Elections Code prohibits the use of student-fee dollars for “campaigning,” these efforts were not directly about supporting the reaffirmations. Instead they highlighted the many services and opportunities for involvement offered by A.S.

As in past years, students reaffirmed all A.S. locking-ins!

Elected Executive Officers

President: Jonathan Abboud

Internal Vice President: Kyley “Ky” Scarlet

External Vice President for Local Affairs: Alexander “Alex” Moore

External Vice President for Statewide Affairs: Alexandria “Alex” Choate

Student Advocate General: Kristian Whittaker

Elections Forum

This year the Elections Committee made a significant change in how they plan for the following year’s election by addressing election code issues during the Spring Quarter soon after the election, rather than during the following year. The committee invited students to speak before the committee in a forum style meeting so that they could hear recommendations from the student body before their internal committee deliberations. The goal was to address issues while they were still fresh in peoples’ minds.