Voter turnout increased due to free food offer
The 2013 ASB elections could have repeated the same course as last year, which had lowest voter turnout in the history of the school. From a population of students roughly the size of Fair Oaks, only 296 voted. It was a very small percentage of voter turn out, and most people polled agree that students still don’t even know we have a student run board that requires votes, but that changed with over 950 students voting this year.
ASB has been worked hard to get the word out to students to vote at various locations on campus. A $3,500 bill was passed for funds available for the purpose of trying to get more students to the polls. A drawing for prizes was considered by the board but was turned down by the student advisor because it was against the rules.
Some flyers posted still represented the $1000’s in giveaways, however student advisor Byrd made it clear in her message to the board that it would not be permitted. It was finalized with a free lunch for those who voted and new flyers were posted to reflect the change. During informal poling by The Current, many students voted because of the free food offer.
At the polls, positions were posted as being unopposed, such as Director of Finance and CAEB President, for which there were some allegations surrounding a few candidates.
ASB spent some of the funds approved to decorate the campus with balloon columns designed to gather attention of students in the student center. Video signage boards displayed voting dates and times, and colorful flyers were posted on message boards around the campus. But the lunch lines seemed to draw the most attention from students.
Social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, provided information about candidates and bios for some of the higher profile positions.
According to the unofficial polls posted by Campus Life, Tyrone Robinson beat out current student Senator Kenneth Hinton for ASB President. Jorge Riley was the winner for Director of Finance and Jeremy Diefenbacher was the shoe in for ASB CAEB President, both positions were unopposed on the ballot. Student Senators elected were Joel Dacarro, Sam Elliott, Laurie Jones, and Timothy Cody Lipuma. The biggest win of the election goes to Los Rios Community College District Student Trustee: Ricardo Lemus. Congratulations to all the candidates and thank you for voting.
