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Puppies, campaign tactics draw attention to ASI cabinet potentials

Fluffy dogs wearing neckties and Hawaiian leis caught students’ eyes on their way to class Wednesday morning as they passed by the Speaker’s Platform on upper campus.

Associated Students Inc. presidential candidate Jorge Soriano, vice presidential candidate Deshe Gully and treasurer candidate Agatha Gucyski brought the dogs to campus to attract potential student voters.

“I don’t think the puppies should be the reason people vote, but it’s a great opportunity to share our message,” Soriano said. “If you can get people to stop for a minute to grab a [soda] or a balloon and talk to them, it’s worth it.”

Similar eye-catching campaign strategies have been prominent in this year’s ASI election season. ASI President John Haberstroh and Vice President Jonathon Bolin recently handed out campaign T-shirts to voters, and presidential candidate Sean Zent and vice presidential candidate Larry Toney recently released a rap parody video explaining their policies.

Zent said he doesn’t plan on hosting any events to gain voters’ attention.

“We [Zent and Toney] don’t want to bother people with anything too extravagant,” Zent said. “We plan on passing out nametag-style stickers that say ‘Hello… I’m voting for Sean and Larry.'”

However, Zent said he doesn’t believe that his campaign posters – some of which feature squirrels or a Victoria’s Secret model – and rap video are too over-the-top.

“I think our video sent a message,” Zent said. “With the majority of people who vote, it comes down to name recognition. Not everybody cares about the ideas.”

Some students said name recognition was all the information they used to choose candidates to vote for.

“It’s mostly a popularity contest,” Elizabeth Nguyen, a freshman sociology major, said. “My friend will vote if the candidate is cute. I don’t even know what the people running do.”

On the other hand, Bolin said he believes that some of the campaign tactics have gotten out of hand.

“Last year, I think it became okay to be funny [in your campaign], but now I think there’s too much silliness going on, which might be turning people off,” Bolin said. “Our posters are funny, but they also have substance.”

Bolin also said he thinks that the current campaign tactics may have a negative effect on the election.

“I think at this point, you might see less of a turnout from voters because voters are overwhelmed and might just be over it when it’s time to vote,” he said.

Some students seem to agree with Bolin.

“I’m not going to vote,” sophomore biochemistry major Analisa Garcia said. “Some of those posters don’t relate to anything, like how they’ll make the campus better. I only saw one that said something related to what they would change.”

Despite this, Soriano said he and his ticket, which includes Gully and Gucyski, will continue to pull out all the stops during their campaign.

“We will be organizing a concert on Monday with students from the music and drama departments, but we will still be taking time in between performances to remind people to vote and explain our position,” Soriano said.
 

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