For the past week, the Cal Poly campus has been caught up in the Associated Students Inc. presidential candidate controversy regarding Sarah Storelli and Alex Kaplan. Students now have the opportunity to choose the next president and ASI Board of Directors as voting commenced yesterday morning.
Students can vote for the president position along with the ASI Board of Directors candidates from their respective colleges via the My Cal Poly Portal. As of 4:40 p.m. Wednesday, 1,976 people, 11.7 percent of the student population, had voted; an hour later, the count increased to 2,100.
Since Kaplan dropped out of the race, Storelli is the only presidential candidate on the ballot. Storelli said she received great feedback from students in the plaza and spoke with many people who were anxious to vote. She was not nervous about the election results.
“It’s more exciting than anything for me since I’ve been planning this since my freshman year,” Storelli said.
She said she wanted to have people come out and show support for ASI and their university.
“I would encourage those who feel strongly enough about one side or the other to vote and voice their opinion and help make a difference on campus,” Storelli said.
ASI Elections Chair Kelsey Rice said polling stations at the library and the University Union (UU) allow people to vote without leaving campus. There will also be polling stations today located in the University Union and the library again, along with a third on Dexter Lawn. The stations will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“We had a lot of success at the library because a lot of students didn’t know voting was going on,” Rice said. “Some had a lot of questions about what the voting process looked like, so it was nice to clarify those issues.”
She said many students have asked about there being only one presidential candidate and how much one vote really counts. Rice said students can write in another candidate or skip the presidential portion.
Regardless, a presidential candidate requires 51 percent of the voter turnout in order to be elected. Currently there are no official write-in candidates because they still need to fill out the presidential packet and pay the application fee.
Rice said the recent buzz surrounding the candidates has created an interesting time for Cal Poly.
“The campus climate is really conducive to making change because I feel like people are awake now to what’s up,” she said. “I think part of what was cool about the controversies with the presidential candidates is that people were really recognizing what the president does and what they want their president to do.”
Rice said she is excited about the voting period and wants students to grasp the excitement generated from last week and remember the importance of voting. She said another issue is students do not know they can vote for ASI Board of Directors as well. She also said many students do not know what the board does or who the candidates are.
History junior Chelsea Ganan said she doesn’t know much about what ASI officials actually do. She said she has not voted the past two years, but is more encouraged to vote this year because some of her friends are running for board positions.
“I have always meant to vote in the past but have never gotten around to it,” Ganan said. “I am excited to vote and for what the new candidates have to offer.”
Students still have until 7 p.m. Thursday to vote. Afterwards, there will be a concert by the Chiller Whales starting at 7 p.m. followed by an announcement of the winners at 7:30 p.m.