Voter participation exceeded last year’s numbers and with a strong turnout in the first day of A.S. elections Tuesday. Director of elections Mazen Hafez said they may break the record.

Hafez said roughly nine years ago, 3,400 students voted over the two-day election. He had hoped that there would have been close to 7,000 for this election, but he said that 4,000 was a reasonable goal.

Almost 2,000 students voted Monday for president, vice president and senators for the A.S committee, said Hafez.

He said last year over the two-day election 1,700 students voted.

A.S. president candidate Abel Pacheco said he was impressed with the increased number of students voting.

‘I am feeling pretty confident and I like the way the elections are being run,’ said Pacheco.

At-Large senator candidate Edward Kaiping spent the election days encouraging students to vote.

‘I think once you get out there end show them how passionate you are about voting and hand them a flyer it really helps,’ said Kaiping.

While handing out flyers by the polling booth on Matador Walk, A.S. Street Team member Tracy Escobedo said she kept an upbeat attitude while attempting to draw people in.

For those students who wanted to vote but did not know much about the candidates, elections committee member John Takashima said students could refer to a voter guide provided by the A.S.

‘I think it gives you a pretty good perspective of a candidate’s platform,’ said Takashima.

Some students came to the polls with a purpose.

Ryan O’Grady, a junior music major, said he researched candidates and came out to vote as he wanted a say on how CSUN will be run.

‘It is terrible that only a small percent of the students take the time to vote, as those who are elected may not be the right people for the job,’ said O’Grady.

Others, like communications junior Nancy Nguyen, said they did not know about the elections.

‘I am not going to vote as I really don’t care,’ she said.

Communications senior Alison Brown said she was not aware when the elections were going to take place until she came to campus and saw people handing out flyers and other students voting.

She said she was not going to vote as she did not know enough about the candidates to make an informed decision.

Hafez said he will be posting the results online at www.csunas.org/elections as soon as the results are in.
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