As ASG Elections roll around, obstacles run rampant
The struggle of holding elections over the Internet has been real
Tyler Pugmire / News Editor
As election season for Associated Student Government (ASG) was moved to the fall this year due to COVID-19, it was clear from the start that election season would not be the same this year for the students who participate in ASG. In electing the president and vice president last spring, debates were held over Zoom and streamed over YouTube for the public to see. That election in April has now given ASG their leadership team to carry them through COVID-19.
Joey Abeyta, president of ASG and Justin Daus, vice president of ASG have now been put into a position of trying to figure out how to navigate student government through distanced meetings, and now distanced elections.
“The top two priorities we have in this election will be A: trying to inform students about the candidates and the election and B: the perpetual struggle to always get out and vote,” Abeyta said. “We anticipate that voter turnout will drop but we are obviously going to continue to fight and make sure that students know the issues on campus and how we are going to be able to solve them.”
Instead of having posters on the walls of campus, and being able to promote one’s brand by getting in-person engagement from the USD community, candidates are now forced to post their flyers and make their pitches from their own social media, or attract voters through their mini-biographies on the ASG website. The @usd_asg Instagram account has also been posting some candidates’ flyers on their Instagram in order to garner even more attraction to each candidate.
Another obstacle that has affected this year’s election is the lack of senators who can represent their own housing situations. Residential senators are assigned to each living area that is provided through USD (this includes Pacific Ridge and Loma Palisades) in order to be a representative for the students living in those areas. Since first-year students will not be permitted to move into campus housing until the Sept. 18 weekend, there has been limited engagement for senators to sign up for these positions. For the residence halls who have no senators up for election, there will potentially be an interview process for anyone that wants to represent their communities.
“Nothing is finalized, but the interview process is something we are looking into,” Abeyta said.
Despite concerns about lower voter turnout, there have been more candidates for this year’s ASG elections than in years past. This is likely due to the creation of the new position of at-large senators: seven people who will serve the senate outside of residential or academic affiliations.
“At-large senators are like the libero in volleyball, they can attack problems and represent constituents from all communities,” Abeyta said.
“At-large senators cover more niche-based identities at USD,” Daus added. “These cover a plethora of things, including athletics, Greek life, ROTC, University Ministry, etc.”
According to ASG’s Meet the Candidates website, there are thirteen people running for seven spots as at-large senators, one of them being Max Donahoe. Referencing his experience when running this year versus last, he described it as “a whole different environment.” While he can’t campaign in person, he does say that this year has allowed him to seek out new ideas and really put forth the process of reaching out to voters, citing Instagram as crucial to his campaign.
ASG is going to look different this year, with new positions, new senators, virtual meetings. Nevertheless, Abeyta seems confident that they will not be slowing down, and he has noted there are still many opportunities to improve USD, whether that be at campus or from a distance.