Presidential vote and Senate vote results

Nicholle Salvatierra | Staff Writer

May, 15, 2014

ASRCC elections experienced a record-breaking voter turnout May 6-7.

This election rallied 642 total votes, a large improvement from the last year’s student trustee election, which had only 15 participants.

What made this election different was the addition of an online voting feature on WebAdvisor during the election. Instead of waiting in line or being rushed between classes to vote, students were able to vote in the comfort of their own home or to use one of the many available computers on campus.

Chief Justice Tandy Dang was one of the students pushing in favor of a web-enhanced form of voting.

“I thought it would be best to have voting be available online since more people are interested in technology,” said Dang.

Using the WebAdvisor feature allowed students to read statements from the candidates at their leisure before voting. Students were then asked to vote for one President and vice president candidate, and as many Senator candidates as desired.

The race between presidential candidates was close, with Ray Orozco and his Vice President Ryan Rudolph winning by three votes.

“I never strategized to win personally, but to promote elections overall,” said newly elected president Orozco. “Both my running mate and I put a lot of effort into promoting elections across campus.”

Candidates for student government visited classes to give presentations in order to encourage students to vote.

Candidates for both president and vice president were experienced members of student government with Orozco serving as the Inter-Club Council Co-Director and Dang serving as Supreme Court Chief Justice.

Their vice president picks are also experienced in the way student government functions. Rudolph, served as a Senator while Dang’s pick Laura Tapia is active as a BOC director.

While the votes ran in favor for Orozco as president, Dang is still able to continue serving in student government. At this time Dang is unsure what position he will be filling.

The current student government will continue their term until the end of the semester. Over the summer members will receive leadership training by past members such as president Doug Figueroa.

Figueroa will be ending his term and transferring to UCSB where he is still striving to be involved in student government at his new campus.

The newly elected student government will begin their new position starting in the fall semester.