Six interested students were present at Monday’s informational meeting for ASUO campaigns. The ASUO Elections Board presented the meeting, held at 6 p.m. in classroom 112 of the Lillis Business Complex, including the recently confirmed Public Relations Coordinator, Elise Maclean, and Office Manager, June Wang.
“It was surprising that there were not many people there.” Maclean said. “We had a look at our budget today, and we are hoping to make some flyers with simple information such as, ‘Here’s the positions available’.”
The ASUO Elections Board is expecting a much larger turnout at the first mandatory candidate meeting to be held next Saturday.
Monday’s presentation overviewed upcoming deadlines for candidates, the open elections positions and there was mention of new election rules.
Elections Rules
Elections Board Coordinator Monica Nunan said candidates will be expected to fill out a Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) waiver and will only be able to hand out material goods(including, but not limited to T-shirts and flyers) for “educational purposes,” not for the purpose of advertising their campaign. The latter rule drew up many questions from those attending the meeting.
Nunan defined educational purposes as “listing things that voters should know about you.”
Maclean told the Emerald that this change in ASUO election campaigning rules was based on the ASUO Election Board’s attempts to prevent an “item for vote” method of campaigning.
“So, now we are saying that you cannot give out gifts for votes” Maclean said.
Voter Guide
ASUO Senator Aven-Itza De Primavera attended the meeting. Primavera spoke to attendants about her plans for the online 2015 election voter guide, which will consist of a headshot of each candidate, a short one-minute video and a copy section where candidates will present their answers to three questions. Candidates will also be able to provide links that display other aspects of their platform or personality.
As part of the one-minute video, all candidates will be asked the same three questions, and the video and headshot will be shot at the same location. The guide will be sent to all students as a notification link, announcing if polls are open or if they should start voting soon.
“We are really excited, and this is something that people have been calling for because they would really want to be more involved.” Primavera said, “I don’t think there is very many people that don’t want to have anything to do with elections and the candidates that are running; they just might not have very easy access to the profiles of candidates that are running.”
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