Associated Students is holding a special election this quarter from Feb. 18-28 to make significant constitutional changes that will impact the spring quarter general elections. They must meet a 20% voter threshold in 10 days to validate the election results.
Students will be voting to update three articles of the Associated Students (A.S.) Constitution, which would affect senate seats, executive powers and election dates. There was initially a back-and-forth about the winter special election ballot initiatives between senators and other A.S. entities, resulting in an overturned presidential veto and a temporary Judicial Council injunction. Now, the election is officially live on the A.S. voter website as of 8 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Changes to Article VI would reduce the number of senate seats from 27 to 18 and affects their distribution. The amendment outlines eight senators-at-large seats open to any undergraduate student, two transfer senators instead of one, four College of Letters & Science senators, one College of Engineering senator, one College of Creative Studies senator and two international senators. It would also shift the internal vice president (IVP) from “presiding officer” to “president of the senate.”
Updates to Article VII would restructure the powers of the A.S. executive positions. It would allow the president to “oversee and deal with all undergraduate student affairs” and give the IVP the power to supervise all departments and entities in the Executive Branch to ensure they complete their duties, among other things.
Updates to Article X would allow the A.S. Elections Board and Senate to extend the A.S. spring elections period to accommodate religious holidays or natural disasters if they impact the elections timeline.
The initiatives passed in the Senate at a Jan. 29 meeting, with specific ballot language for the election fleshed out at the Feb. 5 meeting.
A.S. President and third-year political science and sociology double major Nayali Broadway vetoed the winter special election ballot on Feb. 7, claiming proposed changes to Article VII, section 2 which would grant A.S. executives authority over professional staff were “illegal in nature and violate[d] [University of California] policy.” She said the movement is the Senate “unintentionally lead[ing] the Association astray,” and condemned their failure to consult the wider campus community in their decisions.
“Constitutional amendments were adopted and allowed to proceed to election by the 75th Senate without due regard for the effect that the proposed changes may have on the student body and career staff employed by the Department. Introduced in a three (3) week timeline, the amendments lacked review from campus partners, and do not fit into the University system of which we take part,” Broadway said in an Association-wide statement.
On Feb. 8, the Senate called an emergency email vote to overturn Broadway’s decision, which unanimously passed less than 24 hours after the veto.
Broadway and Carlson appeared at the Feb. 12 senate meeting to explain legal issues in the ballot language and reiterate their longstanding advice to cancel the election. Anushka Ghosh Dastidar / Daily Nexus
Broadway declined requests for comment from the Nexus. She appeared at the Feb. 12 senate meeting alongside Attorney General and fourth-year chemistry major Eric Carlson to explain legal issues in the ballot language and reiterate their longstanding advice to cancel the election.
Carlson attended three consecutive senate meetings to strongly advise the Senate to cancel the special election due to unclear ballot language, a lack of transparency in and out of the Association and failure to consider financial implications of the aforementioned amendments.
“The attorney general was present for [the] past two senate meetings, and he was here to give legal advice and recommendations on the amendments that were on the winter special election ballot. I was the one who requested the attorney general to attend the senate meetings to give legal advice on the specific amendments in my absence,” Broadway said at the Feb. 12 senate meeting.
Prior to the meeting, A.S. Executive Director Marisela Marquez and Assistant Director for Government Affairs Holly Mayes echoed Broadway and Carlson’s concerns in an email to the Senate obtained by the Nexus. They proposed an open forum for community discussion on the ballot before deciding the next steps.
“Typically campus-wide ballots include oversight at the campus and system-wide level and on this proposed Winter Special Election and proposed ballot, as Associated Students’ department head, I hold delegated responsibilities and authority from both the AS constitution and the university,” the email read.
Marquez did not respond to requests for comment.
The A.S. Judicial Council voted unanimously to issue an injunction on Feb. 13 against the Senate after reviewing petitions submitted by Carlson and a brief in opposition from third-year political science and philosophy double major and First President Pro Tempore Dan Siddiqui. The injunction notice stated the ballot violated University of California Office of the President Human Resources policies, as changes to Article VII would give A.S. student executives “oversight over career staff, student staff, and campus property and assets.”
The Judicial Council lifted the injunction at 2 p.m. the next day, because the Senate previously removed controversial language from the official ballot at the Feb. 12 meeting.
“[The President shall] Exercise full executive authority over the branch regarding personnel decisions for non-elected officers,” the deleted language read.
Students have until 1 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28 to cast their votes — double the time a regular A.S. election would have. A.S. Elections Board chair and third-year political science major Caleb Hanson said they must gain votes from 20% of undergraduate students to ratify the results.
“If it does not hit the 20% by that Friday at 1 p.m. it’s a moot election — we did not hit the threshold, it’s thrown out essentially. And we’re doing that because if we don’t see any merit on basically an endless election, going into finals week, once we’re in that dead week, finals week period, no one is gonna wanna focus on elections in the student body,” Hanson said.
A version of this article appeared on p. 1 of the Feb. 20, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
