After more than two weeks campaigning and two days reminding students to vote online, candidates on both executive tickets are optimistic.
Current Undergraduate Student Government Downtown President Frank Smith III said he felt the campaign has gone well during the past few days.
“We have a lot of supporters out here helping us out, reminding people to vote because it’s coming down to the wire,” Smith said.
Presidential candidate Alexis Kramer said she’s happy about the way the campaign went and the amount of support her ticket received.
“Win or lose, the fact that we had so many people to be a part of it, that’s already a big compliment and a big win for us,” Kramer said. “I’m honored that we had so much support.”
Even after two campaign weeks that included candidates and their supporters speaking to students on Taylor Mall and trying to inform them about their goals and platforms via social media, nursing freshman Kate Benson said on Wednesday she hadn’t decided which executive ticket she would be voting for.
Benson said her indecision stems in part from some unpleasant claims and rumors that she has heard from both sides in the race.
“I’m just so conflicted,” Benson said. “I think I need to go back and go look at their websites again, because there have been things coming from both sides about everybody, and it feels like everybody on Facebook is saying, ‘You should vote for this person because of this, and the other guy did this.’ Every time I go on there’s a claim from someone else.”
Benson said while she initially thought the candidates inflate the importance of the election sometimes, now she believes they hold a significance.
“I never really thought about it, but reading some of the things about what they’ve done or what they’re trying to do, it’s very important, much more than I thought it would be,” Benson said. “So I know I will vote.”
Tourism freshman Mark Tinor decided to vote for Smith as soon as he found out he was running for re-election because of his personal experiences with Smith.
“Personally, Smith helped me out a lot when I first came here,” Tinor said. “He helped me with the whole bike situation because I had a personal bike problem that needed to be answered and so he helped me out.”
Criminology and criminal justice freshman Robin Hudson said she decided to vote for Alexis Kramer during the second week of campaigning after hearing both platforms to ensure that she was making an informed decision.
“I’m a student leader, and I’m a head of an organization so I chose the candidate who I thought was going to be most beneficial for the Downtown campus, especially working with organizations,” Hudson said.
Voting closed Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. and the election results will be announced Friday at noon on Taylor Mall.
Candidates’ plans vary for what they will be doing Thursday while they wait for the results to be released.
Ryan Boyd, who is running alongside Kramer for vice president of services, said he will have to get used to not being so busy.
“I’m going to be confused about what to do with all my free time,” Boyd said. “I’ll do a little more work with clubs and then Pitchfork Awards tomorrow night.”
Corina Tapscott, candidate for vice president of services with Smith, said she’ll be catching up on work for school and student organizations that piled up while she was campaigning.
Kramer said it’s going to be strange not to be out on Taylor Mall with students Thursday.
“It’s something that actually became so ingrained in us,” Kramer said.
Smith said he will be catching up on sleep.
“I’m going to be up until midnight reminding people to vote,” Smith said. “But as soon as it’s 12:01, I’m going to bed and I’m going to sleep in. I’ve had like no sleep during the campaign, but energy drinks have gotten me through.”
Contact the reporter at alabril@asu.edu.
