The 2023-24 ASI Election for president and Board of Directors is approaching — but students will have 48 hours to vote as opposed to the typical 24-hour window.
Voting will begin April 25 at 8 a.m. and run until April 27 at 8 a.m. In addition to the president, there are 24 Board of Directors members, representatives of each college.
Alexandria Raynes, the ASI Recruitment and Elections Committee chair and a Board of Directors member, said the extended voter window is in response to common feedback from students that they were not aware of an election until the day after.
“I hope that in the future, it could be even longer,” Raynes said. “For now, we’re just going to do 48 hours to test the waters to see if that’ll increase voter turnout.”
Raynes said an email blast will be sent to student inboxes with a link to vote, and voting will also be announced on the Cal Poly portal. Students can cast their ballot on the ASI website or in their portal once the voting period begins.
In-person booths will also be available on Dexter Lawn 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 25 and 11 a.m to 2 p.m. in the UU plaza on April 26.
In the 2021-22 Election, the Board of Director seat for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design did not reach the threshold for the number of votes, prompting a special election to increase turnout.
According to Raynes, in the current election cycle “there are a few colleges where we do not have the minimum amount of people on the ballot for how many seats there are on the board of directors.”
Raynes’ committee is doing outreach in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, the College of Business and the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences to get more candidates on ballots.
Raynes partly attributes the lack of interest in student government to the pandemic.
“I think COVID decimated a lot of the community on campus,” they said. “I feel like a lot of students don’t know that ASI exists. It’s hard to get people involved because so many people are more disconnected than they used to be — people I’ve talked to that graduated a couple years ago said the entire vibe around campus is different than what it was before.”
Raynes encourages students to get more involved in Cal Poly’s student government.
“I love working on legislation,” Raynes said. “I love meeting with people in power on this campus, talking to them, getting their thoughts, trying to change their opinions. It’s honestly very thrilling work.”
On Thursday, April 20, students can hear from candidates during the ASI Presidential Debate on the University Union Plaza Stage starting at 11 a.m. People can submit questions on an Instagram post from ASI Student Government on the day of the debate.
Write-in candidates for president or Board of Directors will need to file paperwork within 24 hours after the polls close by 8 a.m. on Friday, April 28.
For more information, visit the ASI election and recruitments page here.
Correction, April 19: This story was corrected to accurately reflect that booths will be present in the UU plaza on April 26, not on Dexter Lawn.