Meet the AS Candidates: Voting Ends April 9th

Campus-wide elections for Associated Students at UC San Diego (ASUCSD) began on Monday, April 5 and will continue until Friday, April 9 at 4 pm. Of the 18 elected positions open, 7 races are uncontested, including the 3 executive positions of AS President, Vice President of Campus Affairs and Vice President of External Affairs. 

AS Elections Manager David Hickman attributed the number of uncontested positions to a combination of the effects of the pandemic and large numbers of current AS members graduating during the 2020-2021 school year. 

“While [votes] may not matter as much for the executive candidates this year, [votes] really will matter for a lot of the senator positions… there is definitely a lot of contention there so I do hope that that will still keep turnout high,” Hickman said. 

A total of 31 candidates are vying for 18 elected positions, with 25 candidates representing one of two official slates, REVIVE and TakeOff, and 6 candidates running as independents. 

“We have so many independents and people who haven’t been involved in AS before running for senator positions, which I was really happy to see when the candidates started filing,” said Hickman.  

REVIVE has a total of 18 candidates entered in every possible race, headlined by Manu Agni running for President, Isaac Lara running for Vice President of Campus Affairs and Adrian Blackshire running for Vice President of Executive Affairs. 

According to the slate website, REVIVE’s general platform includes advocating to ensure a safe return to campus for all students, prioritizing the responsible use of student fees, improving mental health services on campus and actively engaging with the campus community. 

“As an entire team, REVIVE is committed to advocating and fighting for continued accommodations as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and the return to campus begins. Many of my own friends have had to make education a second or third priority, as they also have to earn an income for their families, take care of sick family members, etc. The reality is that for some, they are not able to live a simple student life,” said Lara in a statement to The Triton that also included the initiatives he plans to pursue if elected as VP of Campus Affairs. 

TakeOff has a total of 7 candidates entered in 5 different senatorial races. 

The Presidential Debate was held on Monday, April 5. Due to the uncontested race, it was treated as a public forum. Similarly, the Vice Presidential Debate was held on Tuesday, April 6. Both debates were live streamed on Zoom and Facebook and are currently available on the AS Facebook page.

Students can still vote in the campus-wide and college specific elections via TritonLink. Voting will close Friday, April 9 at 4:00pm.

Sarah Naughten is a Staff Writer for the Triton.