The Associated Students Legislative Council approved the ballot for this quarter’s upcoming election in last night’s five-hour meeting.
At the start of the meeting, representatives from the A.S. Judicial Council urged council members to revote on a bill that would strike political party title from the spring elections ballots, as last week’s vote on the bill included votes from council members who are currently running in the election. The council also took time to address at length what student rights issues may have been posed by the county’s ban of Floatopia.
Judicial Council Chair Andrew Trindle asked that the votes from Legislative Council members with conflicts of interest not be counted in the revote.
“We strongly urge the Legislative Council to work with the elections committee to fix disparities and problems that exist,” he said.
The council then moved to vote on the proposal. However, proxy Armand Amin — sitting in for council member Joel Mandujano, who is running in the 2010 elections — attempted to join the revote. Council members prevented Amin from voting, saying his vote would have caused the Judicial Branch]to once again disapprove of the result.
Amin said that he had been sent by Mandujano in order to vote against party names appearing on this year’s ballot.
“Last year OPP was able to win because they had party names on the ballot,” he said. “Mandujano did not think this was fair: He wanted all candidates to be treated equally.”
Elections Committee Chair Sunjeet Gill said a ballot with party names would be biased.
“We are trying to prevent unfairness … this isn’t just about the candidates,” Gill said. “This is about a lot of issues. We want students to know a little bit more about you, not just a few words.”
Eventually, the council approved a ballot with party names next to candidates for the April 19-22 election.
The council later discussed the recent decision of Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Dept. to blockade Del Playa and campus beach accesses this coming weekend to prevent Floatopia. Specifically, the council questioned the legality of closing the beaches, as well as whether the police should have the authority to close beach access every following weekend in April.
“What are we going to do to let students know their rights, and if the beach is closed every weekend?” Rep-at-large Daniel Gradias said. “This is a beach town. What if we can’t go to the beach?”