Associated Students hopes to break the Spring A.S. election voting record by having at least 4,000 students vote today and tomorrow.

The current voting record, which was set nine years ago, is about 3,400 voters. The goal for the fall 2008 election’ was 5,000 but only 2,200 students voted.

‘Students don’t vote because they don’t know the candidates and they don’t understand A.S. and how it is important,’ said Mazen Hafez, Director of Elections. It’s important to vote because they influence important decisions that will be made for the school, said Hafez.

CSUN student Ralph Nava is not voting because he does not know the candidates and has never had any interaction with them.

‘It’s important to be connected because people don’t know what’s going on,’ said Nava.

One way that A.S. has tried to solve this problem is by having candidate debates to allow students to learn more about the candidates and their views. In addition to debates there have also been voting flyers and voting guides to better inform students about the candidates.

‘The debates have been a huge success and we have set a candidate record this election by having 47 candidates. We hope that they will be able to attract more voters,’ said Hafez.

Two of the four students that are running for president are members of’ Greek organizations on campus. Freshman Kristen Gonzalez, 18, sociology has a lot of friends in the Greek system and will be supporting the people who are running.

‘It is important to vote because they are the ones who make the decisions about what goes on around campus,’ said Gonzalez.

The voting polls will be open today from 8 a.m to 7 p.m. Other information in regards to the A.S. election can be found online at www.csunas.org/elections.