Only half of the External Vice President of Statewide Affairs Winter special election voting threshold has been reached with less than a day left of voting.

As of Wednesday, four percent of registered undergraduate students, or 912 students, have voted in the election, according to Elections Board Chair John Paul Renteria.

Siavash Ghadiri / Daily Nexus

Voting closes on Feb. 7 at 4 p.m. and at least eight percent of the student body must vote for the special election to be valid, according to Renteria.

The voting threshold had been lowered for this election to compensate for low voter turnout in the previous Fall Quarter 2018 External Vice President for Statewide Affairs (EVPSA) special election.

Initially, two students declared candidacy in the special election: Rachel Ng, a fourth-year biological sciences and global studies double major, and Richard Zierer, a fourth-year political science and English double major. However, Zierer dropped out of the race on Jan. 23, leaving Ng unopposed.

If the election meets the eight percent threshold by the deadline, Ng will only serve for approximately three months until the winner of the Spring Quarter 2019 election is sworn in.

If elected, Ng hopes to center her agenda around statewide affairs as it concerns sexual assault policy, common sense gun control and reproductive justice.

This is A.S.’s third attempt to elect an EVPSA since Spring Quarter 2018.

The Fall Quarter special election occurred due to the disqualification of Mayela Morales, a fifth-year global studies and Chicano and Chicana studies double major, in May.

Morales won the EVPSA position in April, but it was later discovered that she was not enrolled in any classes at UC Santa Barbara during the Spring Quarter, resulting in her subsequent disqualification.

Madeline Loudon, a third-year history of public policy major, was the sole declared candidate in the Fall Quarter special election. During that special election, however, the 16 percent voter threshold was not met and as a result, Loudon was not voted in.

A.S. Elections Board spent $50 on the Winter Quarter special election, Renteria said at the A.S. Senate meeting last Wednesday, Jan. 30.

Simren Verma is the university news editor at the Daily Nexus and can be reached at news@dailynexus.com or simren@dailynexus.com. 

A version of this article appeared on p. 4 of the Feb. 7, 2019 print edition of the Daily Nexus.

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Simren Verma
Simren Verma currently serves as the University News Editor. She also enjoys school and the presence of her news team.