Voting for the USC Undergraduate Student Government special election opened Wednesday and will close at 11:59 p.m. tomorrow. Thirteen students are currently vying for the two senate seats open due to a lack of candidates during the general election this past spring.
The election was only supposed to run until Thursday, but due to technical delays — including the opening of the election portal being delayed by seven hours — it was pushed back. The voting period for special elections is shorter than a general election because the entire process has to be expedited, said USG Chief Justice Susanna Andryan, a senior majoring in legal studies and philosophy, politics and law.
“The main goal is we just want to fill up the senate seats as soon as possible,” Andryan said. “Then those senators can be well acquainted within their roles, and they can just continue on with their role throughout the entire year.”
The last special election was held in November 2023. A total of 674 students voted in that election, Andryana said, though she said she expects more students to vote in this one.
But, without a public relations team, USG does not have the capacity to send a mass email to the undergraduate student body like it did during the general election, so the organization has struggled to get the word out. There won’t be any tabling telling students to vote like during the general election either, Andryan said.
“It’s difficult, but that’s why we’re trying to use other resources that we have, like our Instagram and just telling the candidates to spread the [word],” Andryan said.
This results in many voters being people who follow the candidates or are already involved or otherwise associated with USG, said Tanisha Saraff, a senatorial candidate and sophomore majoring in economics/mathematics and global geodesign. She felt that those who lacked information about the election weren’t going to make the effort to learn about all the candidate’s platforms and were more likely to vote for superficial reasons such as who’s on the top of the candidate’s list.
“USG could have done a better job of publicizing the special election, because there was no information on social media or on any of the communication channels about it until voting already began,” Saraff said.
Few students actually even knew that the election was happening, and not all those who did have made plans to vote.
Andrej Obradovic, a junior majoring in music industry, and Samuel Avalos, a senior majoring in communications, said they were unaware of the election. Neither have voted in a USG election before.
“I didn’t even know what it was until right now, so I can’t even say if I would vote,” Avalos said.
Obradovic said he had received “literally zero communication,” but would consider voting if “the right candidate” persuaded him to.
“If the candidates are trying to get my vote, why haven’t I seen them around or heard anything about them?” Obradovic said.
Students can see candidates’ platforms on the USG website and vote until 11:59 p.m. Friday. The results of the election will be announced on Tuesday during the regularly scheduled USG senate meeting.