Here are some key dates to keep in mind as the 2025 Campus Elections Process kicks off
**Please note that some dates or timeframes may change, always with updates to ballot/referenda authors, SUA candidates and GSA candidates notified as early as possible of any changes**
| January 2025 | Mandatory referenda orientations: Friday November 1st, Tuesday, November 5th, Wednesday, November 6th, Thursday, November 7th, Friday, November 8th | Orientation will cover the elections process, campus elections policy, return to aid component of referenda, constructing ballot language, the petition process, campaigning, etc. |
| February 5 | Referenda, Opinion Poll, SUA Amendment Application due for review to Dean of Students. Send materials to elections@ucsc.edu | Deadline: 11:59PM |
| February 6th- February 14th, 2025 | Dean of Students Office works with Planning & Budget, Division of Student Affairs and Success to provide feedback on Proposed Student Fee Measure/Amendments to ballot authors. Dean of Students Office works with IRAPS and Division of Student Affairs and Success to provide feedback to Opinion Poll Authors. | Required edits and suggested edits will be shared with Porposed Student Fee Measure/Amendment authors and opininon poll authors no later than February 14th, 2025. |
| February 20th, 2025 | New drafts of Proposed Student Fee Measure/Amendments and Proposed Opinion Poll language due back to Dean of Students Office after authors re-write based on required and suggested edits given by Dean of Students, IRAPS, Planning & Budget and Division of Student Affairs and Success | Between January 17th- January 20th, the Elections Commissioner team will confirm Proposed Opininon Poll language is ballot-ready and work with Proposed Student Fee Measure authors to ensure their language is ready to move onto the next phase of review by UCSC Office of the Chancellor |
| February 20th- February 27th, 2025 | Office of the Chancellor will review Proposed Student Fee Measure/Amendment language and provide feedback to authors. | Required edits and suggested edits by the Office of the Chancellor will be shared with Proposed Student Fee/Amendment authors by February 27th. Revised language will be due to DOS by March 6th. |
| March 6th, 2025 | New drafts of Proposed Student Fee Measure/Amendments due back to Dean of Students Office after authors re-write based on required and suggested edits by Office of the Chancellor | Authors shoud make all required edits and consider all suggested edits. |
| March 6- March 13th, 2025 | Office of the Chancellor will review revised Proposed Student Fee Measure/Amendment language and provide any additional feedback to authors | Required edits and suggested edits by the Office of the Chancellor will be shared with Proposed Fee Measure/Amendment authors by March 13th, |
| March 14th- April 4th | Proposed Student Fee Measure/Amendment language will be reviewed by the UC Office of the President including members of the UCOP student affairs and legal teams. | Required edits and suggested edits by the UC Office of the President will be shared with authors by April 7th. |
| April 16th, 2025 | Election Ballot Form and Attachments (Sponsor Confirmation) due to Dean of Students | Deadline: 5:00 PM |
| April 16th- April 18th, 2025 | Dean of Students office verifies signatures on petitions and sponsorship forms and notifies authors if they have met requirements to proceed | |
| April 18th, 2025 | Pending approval from the Dean of Students Office, referenda campaigns may begin | |
| April 28th, 2025 | Voting Begins | Ballot opens 12:00am Monday, April 28th |
| May 9th, 2025 | Voting Ends | Ballot closes 11:59pm Friday, May 9th |
| May 9th- May 16th, 2025 | After ballot closes on May 9th, all campaign materials are required to be removed. IRAPS will begin work tabulating votes to send to Chancellor for verification. | Any run-off elections will be announced by Wednesday, May 14th, to begin Monday, May 19th. Note: a run-off election will delay Chancellor annoucnement of Election results. |
| May 19th, 2025 | Chancellor verifies and announces results | |
| May 20th, 2025 | Compulsory Fee Items to UCOP President for Final Approval | |
| June 27th, 2025 | Deadline for complaints about violations of elections (30 working days after verification) |
More info about voting procedures:
In order to vote, students will need to enter their Gold ID and Gold Password. If you do not have that information, check with the Office of the Registrar, (831) 459-4412.
At the time of the election, only currently registered (Spring 2024, based on third week records) undergraduate and graduate students at UCSC will be eligible to vote.
Votes may be cast from any computer with internet access.
Screening of voters, casting of votes, storing of votes, and determination of results will all occur electronically. Voter anonymity is built into this process. Every attempt has been made to ensure the security of all data. Any attempts at voter fraud will be handled as defined by campus policies. Fraudulent votes will be eliminated from elections results and will not count toward the minimum voting pool as required for each measure.
Ranked choice voting (RCV) will once again be used this year for the SUA officer elections. In RCV, voters will select their first choice candidate for any given position (including a write-in candidate) and may also rank as many of the remaining candidates as they wish in their order of choice. If a candidate receives more than 50% of the first choice votes, they win the race outright. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, an instant runoff will occur, wherein the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters who picked that candidate as their first choice will have their votes count for their second choice. This process continues until one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.
Individuals who wish to challenge the election process or validity of the election results may file a written complaint with the interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Success. A complaint must include a detailed explanation of the specific action or section of the election policy being grieved, or alleged to have been violated, and the remedy requested. The time limit for filing a complaint shall expire thirty (30) working days after the election results are announced, likely to occur on/around July 11th, 2024 of this election year, pending an official elections result announcement by the UCSC Chancellor.
