The UC Santa Barbara Associated Students Senate unanimously passed the Candidate Endorsement Act, amending legal code to allow candidates in Associated Students elections to endorse one another, at its Feb. 14 meeting. The Associated Students (A.S.) Senate also indefinitely tabled a bill that aimed to provide funding to local Isla Vista-based bands. The A.S. Senate
1,849 students did not finish filling out their ballots or did not click submit, rendering their votes void, A.S. Elections Board announced during the Zoom webinar where results were displayed.
The only A.S. constitutional amendment on the ballot, dubbed the Nonpartisan Act, asks students to vote on the elimination of the party system for senatorial candidates as well as for the Internal Vice President.
Shannon Hollingsworth, chair of the A.S. Elections Board, attributed the low candidate turnout to UCSB’s return to in-person instruction after years of being online from COVID-19.