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By Robert Salonga

Daily Bruin Reporter

The upcoming Undergraduate Students Association Council’s elections hit another obstacle when Elections Board Chair Alex Kaplan resigned last week.

Kaplan sent a letter to the council Thursday, stating he was fed up with what he called attempts by certain council members to supersede the E-Board’s decisions regarding the elections process.

“Through their actions and statements to me, it is clear that certain members of USAC are planning to go over the heads of the Elections Board to run the election process,” Kaplan stated in his letter.

But according to Internal Vice President Elias Enciso, the E-Board must work in conjunction with council.

“The E-Board brings the election process to USAC and council must be completely satisfied with the process in terms of being able to secure a fair elections process,” Enciso said.

Last Tuesday, council voted down 6-3 E-Board’s proposal to hold elections online via the my.UCLA Web site. Elections are scheduled to begin May 2.

In the event the E-Board chair resigns, the Election Code dictates that the USAC president shall appoint a new chair, to be approved by council. USAC President Elizabeth Houston sympathized with Kaplan’s stance, and said she believed he had little choice.

“The integrity of Alex’s position as an independent E-Board chair has been compromised by council,” she said Sunday.

Kaplan said he would recommend anyone on the E-Board to be his successor, and that he has been told some members plan to resign in support of him. Houston confirmed this possibility.

He also stated in his letter that he would assist his successor to make the transition as smooth possible.

According to Kaplan, events leading to his resignation began with USAC’s inability to vote on a proposal during winter quarter.

As a result, the E-Board was left with two options – to either use my.UCLA or delay the elections by implementing a paper ballot, Kaplan said.

“We made a presentation for what we thought was the best option well ahead of time,” he said. “They paralyzed us by voting it down with so little time to seek an alternative.”

Houston supported Kaplan’s claim, saying the council’s failure to reach quorum during key meetings contributed to the lack of notice.

“Council members didn’t show up to previous meetings, forcing Alex to do something and move forward with the elections process,” Houston said. “For them to then call him irresponsible is ludicrous.”

As of now, the elections will be performed with conventional paper ballots, Enciso said.

“No changes have been made from the past; there will be paper ballots,” he said.

While council members believe implementing a paper ballot is feasible, Kaplan does not think it’s possible without pushing back the election.

In addition, Kaplan said Enciso’s own online voting proposal, which included a change in the Election Code, was an example of council members trying to decide how the election should be run.

“It is the E-Board’s duty to decide what the voting method should be,” Kaplan said. “USAC can’t decide by themselves that method.”

Enciso disputed Kaplan’s claim that USAC is trying to run the elections themselves, adding that he and other council members were concerned about Internet security issues, which were not adequately addressed.

Because of these security issues, Enciso presented an online voting proposal that would continue to use the my.UCLA Web site, but with added polling stations and security, as well as coded paper ballots.

“We were very much willing to work with my.UCLA,” Enciso said.

There was also a need to prevent campaigning at polling sites, which Enciso said his proposal would help monitor against.

Kaplan said he was frustrated by the lack of notice by council, who requested an alternative process.

“We reached the point of no return a long time ago, and we didn’t hear from any members that they didn’t want online elections until it was too late,” Kaplan said.

But Enciso said it should have been evident from council’s objections to the online voting system, which was used in December’s special election for an external vice president, that USAC wouldn’t approve it for spring elections.

Kaplan said USAC should have made that decision clear before it was too late.

“Their decision should have been made at the end of winter quarter; they had several opportunities to vote on it in a timely manner,” he said.