Student Voice Referendum Language Ruled Illegal, Future (Online?) Election Ordered
Attorney General Mike Davis won his argument, that the use of the word "include" did leave enough ambiguity as to whether there would actually be a fee increase. For some more background on the back and forth about this case, the Daily Cal (finally) has their article up, and they have a nifty timeline that documents the late night/early morning back and forth that took this referendum on and off the ballot multiple times.

The much more interesting part of the judgment was the remedy that they issued. The Judicial Council, in their own words:

In regard to the referendum’s vote in the future, the Council acknowledges that this referendum was proposed using the appropriate political process, and thus must be put to a vote. We hereby order the Elections Council to begin preparations for a second week (three days) of voting, during which time both contested referendums will be considered by voters. The exact dates of the election will be left to the discretion of the EC, but must be conducted within the coming two weeks. The manner in which the EC conducts the election is also up to the discretion of the EC, but we suggest the use of an online voting system to minimize additional expenditures.

Online elections!!!!eleven!1!!one! (I'm a big supporter of online elections, for the record). I can't imagine Election Chair Angel Bewer would even consider holding three more days of on campus polling, which almost assures that we will do this vote online. And for those people interested, here is the ballot question, and the reasoning as to why it was illegitimate:

“Should the ASUC mandatory fee include $4.50 per semester to fund membership in the UC Student Association at $1.50 per semester, fund other local, statewide, and national lobbying efforts at $1.50 per semester, and include $1.50 per semester return to financial aid?”

It is our opinion that the word “include” does not properly elaborate on the fact that student fees would be increased as a result of this referendum’s passage. We believe that the typical voting student may be at risk of not understanding the proper intention of the word “include”, and thus may be misled into thinking this would be an allocation rather than an increase in student fees. We suggest that the phrase “an additional” be placed after “include” in order to prevent any confusion.

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