Audio story by Andrew Romanov
USGD presidential candidates Travis Arbon and Frank Smith III spend almost every weekday campaigning on Taylor Mall speaking to students about student government.
“We want to get students personally involved, and that’s one of our platform points,” said Marcus Dudas, Vice President of Policy candidate on Smith’s ticket. “So anything to do with speaking to students, getting to know them especially. That’s not only the kind of thing we want to do while we’re running, but something we want to do if we’re elected.”
Arbon said his campaign has been most successful in collecting email addresses, which they can use to better communicate with voters.
“We have several hundred email addresses that we can, just like that, communicate with people and remind them to vote,” Arbon said. “We’re not going to spam them, send them random pictures of cats or anything, or even tell them who to vote for, but just to remind them to vote.”
While information was being gathered for this article, not one eligible voter stopped to talk to a candidate.
“Usually they’re a little bit more open to it,” Arbon said. “You just say, ‘I can walk and talk with you’ or ‘check out our website’ or ‘take this.’ But some people, you’ll give them a flyer and they’ll just be like ‘no.’”
Under the amended election code, candidates can spend up to $750 out of pocket to fund their campaigns. Both candidates have already purchased signs, flyers and t-shirts. Arbon and Smith have also established websites with candidate and platform information.
Elections will take place online April 3 and 4.
Contact the reporter at Andrew.Romanov@asu.edu
