USG voting begins today

 by Andre Radzischewski
 published on Monday, March 31, 2008

Mark Appleton

Joshua Pittel

Voters familiar with the change versus experience theme in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination may notice a similar dynamic as they vote for the next president of the Undergraduate Student Government.

Students can vote Monday and Tuesday either online at ASU Interactive or at three polling locations: the north side of the Memorial Union (9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday), Palo Verde Main and Hassayampa (9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and 10 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday). Online polls will be open from 12:01 a.m. Monday to midnight Tuesday.

In addition to the executive board, students will elect a new USG Senate; none of the senate races are contested. Graduate students will select the officers of the Graduate and Professional Student Association. Also on the ballot is an Arizona Students' Association initiative, which is asking the student body to raise the ASA fee from $1 to $2 a semester.


Appleton ticket


The candidate: Mark Appleton, a history junior


The running mates:

Terra Ganem, a nonprofit leadership and management junior, for vice president of services; Andrew Rigazio, a finance sophomore, for vice president of policy.


What is your campaign about?

"We want to create student connectivity," Appleton said. "A lot of students don't even know [what USG] services exist."


What qualifies you to lead the student body?

"Our experience provides us with the knowledge to hit the ground running," Appleton said.

All three candidates currently hold USG positions — Appleton as voter registration coordinator, Rigazio as senate president and Ganem as campus environment director.


What are some of your main goals?

Appleton wants to install lockers in well-lit, high-traffic areas so students can store books and projects between classes and add two additional locations — Sonora Center and the Barrett Honors complex — to the safety escort service.

He wants to expand the bike co-op, open a wellness café and create two new USG positions: a health and wellness director and a community development director.


Do you support Arizona Students' Association's ballot initiative to increase its fee from $1 to $2?

"The Arizona Students' Association does a lot of wonderful things," Appleton said. "[But] I would say that we're neutral on [the fee increase]."

However, Appleton co-wrote a letter to The State Press along with his opponent Joshua Pittel expressing support for the increase.


Why should students vote for you and not for the Pittel ticket?

"I don't think they have any experience, really," Appleton said.

"We're just going to leave it at that," Ganem added. "No mudslinging."


What was the campaigning experience like for you?

"We're very fortunate to have a wonderful group of supporters," Ganem said.
"We've actually made new friends through this, too."

Appleton said about 45 people helped with his campaign, doing everything from creating a Web site to putting up his signature lime-green billboards.

Among them, the three spent about $1,400 out of their own pockets, Appleton said, and they will be do some last-minute campaigning in front of the voting locations.


Do you think you will win?

"We're optimistic and hopeful," Appleton said. "We just need to do the best we can."


Pittel ticket


The candidate: Joshua Pittel, an economics junior


The running mates:

Jacquelyn Shoemake, a marketing junior, for vice president of services; Asher Kaplan-Dailey, a marketing junior, for vice president of policy


What is your campaign about?

"If you want to change USG, you have to change the people that are in there," Shoemake said. "ASU is for everyone, not just for a selected group of people."


What qualifies you to lead the student body?

"We don't have any USG experience, but we have real-life experience," Pittel said.
Pittel was student body president at Chaparral High School, and Shoemake is a vice president of Kappa Alpha Theta.

"That's the experience that really matters," Kaplan-Dailey said.


What are some of your main goals?

Pittel has four main goals: safety, improvement, awareness and change. He wants to improve campus lighting, add more security cameras and expand the boundaries of the safety escort service to Alpha Drive and other areas.

He also wants to hire more doctors and expand the facilities of the Campus Health Service.

"[Currently] the wait is so long that [many students] forgo the treatment or forgo their classes," Pittel said.


Do you support Arizona Students' Association's ballot initiative to increase its fee from $1 to $2?

"We'll be working closely with the Arizona Students' Association," Pittel said. He supports the fee increase.


Why should students vote for you and not the Appleton ticket?

Only two people are running for USG president and the candidates for USG Senate are either uncontested or nonexistant, all of which shows USG is out of touch with the student body, Pittel said.

"It's the same people that always win," Shoemake added.


What was the campaigning experience like for you?

Among them, the candidates have spent $1,200 of their own money into the campaign, Pittel said.

"A bad investment would be not even running," Shoemake added.

The three will do some last-minute campaigning in front of the voting locations on the election days.


Do you think you will win?

"The main thing is just to get ASU to vote," Kaplan-Dailey said. "We think it's neck-and-neck."

Reach the reporter at: andre.f.radzischewski@asu.edu.