In the wake of the 2012 presidential election, Cal State Long Beach students are faced yet again with the age-old question of the importance of voting. If more CSULB students vote in the Associated Students Inc. election than they did in the presidential election last November, it will be a result of two factors: online voting and a greater feeling of worth on campus than in the nation, a feeling that may or may not exist.
Political efficacy has been questioned by those who study political science since the establishment of the electoral college or in other words, since the establishment of the American political system as we know it. On campus, however, there is no “middle man” or elector intercepting the direction of the student vote.
Therefore, a few clicks online and guaranteed, John Haberstroh and Jonathon Bolin are back in office. Whew! The concern then becomes, how many students are “active” enough on campus to actually open that email, click on that link, and click “yes” on Haberstroh and Bolin?
Even the convenience and luxury of having the ballot delivered directly via email may not be enough to ensure that students participate in the election.
This may be the result of students feeling detached and disengaged from their college campus, the same way average Americans tend to feel detached from their nation. On campus, however, students are direct recipients of ASI’s voter mobilization efforts, such as the free pizza at the Meet and Greet event on Tuesday.
How can students feel justified in taking that slice of pizza without then proceeding to vote in the elections at all? Alas, such is the mentality of the modern-day American, student or otherwise.
Any lack of interest in the voting process on campus is most likely found in the students who don’t acknowledge the importance of ASI in general, other than to note that they are supposedly a student government of sorts. This is not the case for students rolling through in the University Student Union, who wind up watching a segment of College Beat Production’s “Beach Week,” the campus news program that presents ASI information and is coincidentally co-hosted by Bolin’s girlfriend.
Students who take advantage of their opportunity to obtain information about ASI activity, through quality programs like “Beach Week” or the various campus print news media, probably feel more connected to the students who are competing for a say in the politics of CSULB.
How many students realize that Haberstroh and Bolin voluntarily took a 30 percent pay cut as they entered office in order to open up more scholarship opportunities for students? This was a selfless move and more than most “real-world” politicians can claim for themselves. Incumbents or not, the candidates have gone to great lengths to engage the campus voting population, be it through self-promoting posters or through various politically motivated actions.
On campus news media have published several candidate details, like the wide range of GPAs of each candidate, from the less impressive 2.8 of Sean Zent to the whopping 4.0 of Haberstroh.
Bottom line, get your vote on.
Paige Pelonis is a sophomore journalism and international studies major and the assistant opinions editor for the Daily 49er.