Associated Students Inc. hosted a Meet Your Candidate Day event on Tuesday encouraging students to talk with candidates on San Luis Obispo’s local ballots.
Candidates Jan Marx, Michael Boswell, Felicia Lewis and Mayor Erica A. Stewart were in attendance, engaging in discussions with students about voting in the local elections.
As a nonpartisan organization, ASI does not support any of these candidates but aims to provide candidates a place to campaign, said Weston Patrick, ASI Secretary of External Affairs and computer science sophomore. All six candidates on the ballot were invited, and four attended.
Patrick said the event’s biggest surprise was how long students stayed to speak with the candidates.
“That’s really exciting, because you see students coming in like ‘I want a free donut’ and then they end up talking to a mayoral or city council candidate and learning a lot about what city council and the mayor does,” Patrick said.
ASI handed out flyers with sample questions students could ask the candidates.
Environmental management and protection freshman and attendee Collin Durfee said he had never been to an event like this before. Durfee is planning on voting in the local election.
“I thought it was interesting to be able to talk to an actual person,” Durfee said. “They all have little cards that say their policies and what they are for, but it is kind of interesting to hear what they really believe and what they might fight for in the coming election.”
Patrick said that understanding local government is important no matter where people live because it affects their day-to-day lives.
“Specifically for the city of SLO, no matter who you are as a student you are going to be living here for the next four years,” Patrick said. “These people who are currently running for office are going to affect your day to day.”
