By Timothy Guy
By Timothy Guy
Barring any problems Michael Gonzales and Sonia Smith will be the new Associated Students of Riverside City College president and vice president come next semester.
But, the elections have not happened you ask?
The outcome is almost certain because Gonzales and Smith are running unopposed this year.
The last time there was an ASRCC presidential election that ran unopposed was in 2001 when Ann Marie Jackson and Tina Lee were elected president and vice president with 27 votes, out of a total 1,076 votes cast.
According to Viewpoints archives, the same thing happened in 2000 when Bryan Silva was elected ASRCC president after running unopposed.
An unopposed election should not stop people from coming out and voting, according to Gonzales.
“The biggest thing that is coming up right now is the school’s accreditation,” he said. “One of the big things they look at is the student involvement, so yeah it’s unopposed, but the people doing the accreditation need to see that the students are involved. It’s a huge part of what’s going on.”
Some may blame the lack of participation due to student apathy toward voting.
“Unfortunately apathy is not only present here at this college, but at a state level and a national level. I’m not saying that’s an excuse, but they just don’t know,” said Student Activities Coordinator Doug Graham.
The election this year will take place May 18-19 and will all be done on the WebAdvisor Web site.
A student election information forum will be held on May 17 in the Cafeteria featuring the candidates fielding questions and giving statements.
Student government is attempting to get the word out about the elections to students, according to Graham.
“We’ve put posters up,” he said. “We’ve asked students to announce it in their classrooms and I’ve also sent an e-mail out to all the faculty and staff that this is what’s happening, if they want to announce it in their class.”
Graham said getting the word out about the upcoming election is akin to the way things have been done in previous years.
“It’s much the same; it’s just students talking to students… it’s the best kind of line of communication,” he said.
Graham says that students in student government have been trying to reach students.
“This year’s group has been getting up with our Student Senate,” he said. “They have what’s called an outreach program and they actually go out to students and talk to them. We have events that the outreach people do.”
Since the election is online, voting can be done at any computer with Internet access.
For those who are without that access, there will be a few options open to facilitate voting.
There will be 10 computers set up in the Martin Luther King Technology and Learning Resource Center’s second floor computer lab for voting as well as access to computers in the Digital Library and Admissions and Records building.
One incentive to vote is a drawing for $25 gas cards.
All students need to do is vote on WebAdvisor, print out a page that states they voted and take it to the booth set up outside Admissions and Records to be eligible for the drawing.
The booth will be open on May 18-19 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4-7 p.m. There will also be free food available for students with ASRCC stickers.
Gonzales thinks voting in the election comes down to one thing.
“They need to be involved more with the campus. Nobody gets involved with the campus and they need to get getting more involved,” he said. “They go here and they are responsible for what happens here.”
For those who wanted to run, but thought they missed the deadline Graham has some news.
“If students still want to run they can run as a write in candidate, so it’s still open,” he said.
