Rafi Sands is a 3rd year Business Economics and Political Science double-major and our External Vice President. For the past few months, Sands has been hard at work encouraging all UCLA students to register to vote for the upcoming election. Check out our Q&A with Rafi below and make sure to vote on Tuesday November 8th.
Her Campus: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Rafi Sands: I’m a third-year at UCLA and currently serve as the External Vice President of our student government association, USAC. I’m a hardcore political junkie, marathon runner, and Vietnamese soup aficionado (it’s pho-nomenal!).
HC: What is your role as USAC External Vice President?
RS: I serve as the official voice of the 30,000 undergraduate students to all the different people and groups outside of our school who make decisions affecting us. What’s that mean? In practice, it means a good deal of traveling to Sacramento and D.C., and even more time spent meeting with students and student groups on campus to learn about the problems they encounter. Essentially, it’s my role to channel student concerns into actionable policy proposals presented to key decision makers.
HC: Can you tell us about BruinsVOTE! and why you think it was so successful?
RS: BruinsVOTE! 2016 was the largest voter registration drive in UCLA history — with over 10,000 students registered to vote, we made it clear this year that student voices matter. Getting students registered to vote is surprisingly difficult. The voter registration process isn’t designed to be intuitive for college students since we change addresses so frequently and there are so many of us condensed in small areas. That’s why our success this year is all the more impressive.
HC: What inspired the BruinsVOTE! goat?
RS: Who doesn’t love a good petting zoo (ok, petting zoo of one) on their way to class? CalPIRG, one of our BruinsVOTE! member organizations, brought out the Vote Goat this year, and people loved it!
HC: What other cool things is the External Vice President office working on this year?
RS: We’ve got a lot planned around UC affordability, mental health, campus safety, and more this year. In particular, the Board of Regents is expected to vote on a planned tuition hike at their January meeting — and we’ve got to make it clear to our state government that the they’ve got to fund our education so tuition hikes can stop. More to come on FundTheUC soon.
HC: How can we get involved?
RS: If you consider yourself a student activist or advocate for any particular cause, we invite you to join us! We’re always looking for passionate students to lobby with us in Sacramento & D.C., help plan our campaign events and social media tactics, and more. Join our email list at uclaEVP.com, and feel free to email me personally if you’re ready to get involved!
My email is rafi@uclaEVP.com.
HC: Why is voting important to you? Why should we vote?
RS: Multiple studies have shown that the groups in society that turnout to vote most are the most likely to get the policy benefits they ask for.
HC: Why does this matter to us?
RS: It matters because there’s a lot we, as students, need from our government: lower tuition, reduced student loan debt, better mental health services, more housing options, and the list goes on. And yet, we don’t turnout to vote (18-24 year olds in California are more likely to be arrested than vote!). If we want our elected officials to listen to us, it’s time we start turning out to the polls.
Click here to access Election Day Worksheets and poll locations provided by BruinsVOTE!
All Photos Courtesy of Rafi Sands