*DONE BREAKING* Executive Order Allows EAP Students to Vote *BROKEN*
POST UPDATED
From ASUC.org:

An Executive Order written by President Leybovich that will allow Education Abroad Program students to vote in the upcoming ASUC elections has been approved. Read the full document here.

Ballots nearly identical to the electronic ballots that on-campus students will use in the April 5-7 ASUC elections can be printed out, filled in, and mailed back to Berkeley. The Executive Order states that ballots have to be postmarked by April 7 and received by the Elections Council by April 21. This electronic-to-paper ballot will be avaiable at asuc.org starting April 4, a day before the rest of the campus votes.

Very well done Misha. Let me say first, that to echo what someone said in comments a while ago, the only people who change the world are those people crazy enough to actually believe that they can. When I came up with the idea of getting EAP student's an opportunity vote, I figured it would be nearly impossible. Ben Narodick and I drafted a bill, that I was certain would fail. Then we argued a lawsuit that I was almost certain would fail, although debating with Angel and Nathan at the Judicial Council was certainly fun.

But the attention and pressure on this issue was enough to get this Executive Order issued. I will be coordinating with someone in the UCDC program to post flyers in the student housing at the University dorm where Berkeley students are living to make sure Berkeley students in Washington are aware of this. (Ian R., are you still reading CalStuff? hint hint) There are also efforts underway to make sure that EAP students will know about their newfound ability to vote.

Finally, one last thing. My motivation in pushing this issue with only weeks before the election was threefold: 1) Obtain EAP and UCDC voting rights for this election, which was accomplished. 2) Attemtpt to cause some general SQUELCH! ruckus to get some attention and fuck with the election schedule, and only the former part of that was accomplished. 3) Use EAP students to help pressure for an online voting system. The lawsuit we filed focused a large amount of attention on this issue, and I have been speaking with Senators about working out a bill for online voting later this year. More on that soon, but all and all, this turned out very well, and I'm very pleased at the progress that we made. Thank you again Misha.Email This Post!