The Elections Committee organizes and monitors the annual campus-wide elections. This includes an orientation for all candidates where they are also photographed for the candidates webpage. The Elections Committee is also charged with enforcing the AS Elections Code and investigating any charges of Elections Code infractions by parties or individuals. This includes imposing fines as specified in the Elections Code.

Elections Committee 2015 L to R: Avery Chamberlain, Gerardo Gonzalez, Staff Advisor Ruth Garcia Guevara, Tanner Muro, Fiona Hyman, Tiffany Yeh, and Claire Fox

This year was unusual because only one party, the Open People’s Party (OPP), fielded a full slate of candidates for all of the executive officer and Senate positions. The newly formed Free-Thinking Patriots party ran a partial executive slate and a couple of Senate candidates, and a couple of independent candidates entered the race.  There were also a relatively high number of lock-ins up for reaffirmation, including KJUC/KCSB, AS Professional Media Staff, Program Board, UC Student Association, Student Commission on Racial Equality (SCORE), Bike Shop, Community Affairs Board (CAB), Recycling Program, Bicycle Path Maintenance Fee, Isla Vista Community Improvement Fund (IVCRC), Childcare Grant, Environmental Affairs Board (EAB), Isla Vista Tenants Union (IVTU), AS Legal Resource Center (LRC), Women’s Commission, Take Back the Night (TBTN), Child Care Center Fee, Student Health, and Disable Student Services.

The absence of a full slate of opposition candidates made election night calmer than in pervious years, but clearly presents AS with a new dilemma regarding representation of a broad spectrum of constituencies in our student government.