The Associated Students of Citrus College is having a special election.
Not enough votes were counted to properly elect any of the board members except for the 2022-2023 president, Jamie IIes.
The election will be online from May 31 to June 2.
In person, voting will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. from May 31 to June 2 at the Haugh Performing Arts Center.
The first 50 students to vote at this in-person booth will receive a free Citrus College T-shirt.
ASCC Senatorial candidate Sofia Guzman said in an email that this election is more important than the last.
“Students should and need to take this time to vote in this election,” Guzman said, “to not only let their voices be heard but to ensure that they elect qualified candidates to these important leadership positions.”
Guzman said students should have a say in who advocates on their behalf as the board is entrusted with student fees that totaled $314,244 for 2022 and events on campus.
Student life supervisor Rosario Garcia said in an email that students will be voting for officers who represent them in shared governance committees and decisions are made in those committees that affect everyone, including students.
“The ASCC represent all students in shared governance,” Rosario said. “They make decisions that affect all students, they coordinate and host activities, they are responsible for developing the ASCC budget and more.”
Voters will decide on changes to four amendments to the ASCC constitution, as well as recasting for the candidates not elected in the first election.
The four changes to be voted on include:
- The student trustee, who sits on the Board of Trustees as a non-voting member term will begin June 1 and end May 31 instead of May 15 and end May 14 of the following year.
- An interim student trustee will be immediately appointed if a sitting student trustee is removed from office, can no longer serve, or is put on academic or disciplinary probation.
- A simple majority vote will allow a candidate to be elected.
- All amendments and revisions will be available to students five days before an election instead of 10.
What method(s) is ASCC utilizing to inform students of upcoming student body elections? How low has this year’s voter turnout been compared to the last 1-10 years? I’m not sure if this is ASCC’s first time allowing online voting, but it can be a good idea as long as students are notified/reminded of this option. In-person voting usually draws numbers due to the traffic it creates on campus, it makes the passersby curious, drawing them in to vote (if they have time). Would it be possible to send active ASCC members (during the week of the election) to classrooms to make a quick announcement about it? Does ASCC utilize the Citrus Mobile app to announce election dates?