With just 17.3 percent of the student body voting, almost all Student Voice! candidates for the A.S. Council’s executive positions claimed victory in last week’s campuswide election, ushering in leaders that, in most cases, already serve in the current student government. Vice President External-elect Eddie Herrera was the only candidate from the Tritons United! slate, headed by Earl Warren College senior Daniel Watts, to win a cabinet seat.
Student Voice! president-elect Harry Khanna (center) lets loose a cheer with his supporters as A.S. Elections Manager Charlene Cheng announces his victory over opponent Daniel Watts.
President-elect Harry Khanna trumped Watts, in his second consecutive year as a presidential contender, by more than 400 votes. Many SV! members had similar margins of victory in the races for executive positions, which oversee the highest offices of the A.S. Council.
Despite SV!’s win, Khanna said he does not think the upcoming year will be without conflicts, since “people on the same slate don’t all agree with each other.”
Watts and his slate primarily ran a platform of reform and accused Khanna and his slate of corrupting student government.
In the publication called More Truth About UCSD, Watts lampooned the SV! slate on many fronts, including an allegation that slate supporter and former Vice President External Kevin Mann misused funds for the purchase of novelties.
“I knew it was going to be an uphill race because we were running against the establishment,” Watts said. “There is a political machine that A.S. has created. And especially in light of the low voter turnout, the primary people who turned out were the people who support the establishment.”
Many of the candidates had no previous A.S. experience, which Watts said supports his mantra of change. Khanna, however, said that he also touts change, but will use his slate’s experience to carry it out.
“We promised change, we just reinforced that we were going in there knowing how to get things done, unlike Tritons United!, who wanted to go in there knowing nothing,” Khanna said. “While we know what the status quo is, we also know how to change it.”
Khanna said that Watts’ platform was based on mudslinging.
“His whole campaign was basically spreading lies about Student Voice!,” Khanna said. “I think it would have been a closer election if he hadn’t done that and just ran a legitimate campaign.”
In More Truth About UCSD, Watts published a picture of Khanna in his A.S. office, where he served as vice president of academic affairs, with bottles of alcohol. Those acts, Khanna said, are indicative of Watts’ lowbrow politics. In retrospect, Watts said that he doesn’t regret his actions.
“We exposed the truth about what some people on student government had done,” Watts said. “Regardless [of whether] these people stay in office, the students will know what they did.”
In total, SV! candidates won 24 positions, while TU! won 10. Seven SV! candidates will become council senators, who have the only voting power on the council, with TU! getting three senate slots.
Watts said he hopes that TU!’s platform of reform will live on through the senators and Herrera, the lone TU! winner in the executive races.
“Student Voice! does not control the senate,” Watts said. “There are a lot of independent senators. Plus Eddie is up there and he’ll be watching. Harry better get the stuff done that he said he was going to do or else he’ll look kind of ridiculous.”
Herrera won by less than 100 votes against SV! opponent Porsia Thomas. Some of the SV! executives said they were nervous about Herrera being a member of the cabinet. However, Herrera said he was optimistic.
“I spoke to Harry and I told him that at this point, I will do anything in my power to get something done and do what’s best for the student body,” Herrera said. “We’re going to get past these elections. It’s only temporary and it’s very possible for us to pull together.”
At the same time, Herrera said that he would not waver when it comes to the ethical standards in the council. He added that his current morals seriously conflict with the other incoming executives.
“I will not compromise my principles,” Herrera said. “I plan on prosecuting student representatives who display malicious intent or preferential treatment. If student representatives are going to act in this way, I’m going to make sure that they have the incentive not to.”
A fee referendum that would have increased student activity fees by $9 per quarter failed to garner the 20 percent voter turnout needed to pass. However, the referendum would have failed even if there were no restrictions.
