In five days, voter registration for this coming election will come to a close. By all accounts, the associative student government’s student registration drive was a tremendous success.
“Rock the Vote” officials from ASG committed themselves to registering student voters and continue to build civic consciousness. “We’ve registered into the triple digits,” said ASG President Nathan Alonzo.
Extending beyond their own efforts, ASG senators allocated $600 to develop a campus registration contest for various FCC clubs. The top three clubs to obtain fifty or more voter registration forms are set to receive a portion of this funding.
“Teachers of Tomorrow is doing a fantastic job and so is the College Democrats Club”,
said Alonzo. “Those are the two clubs that I’m aware of right now that are putting up substantial numbers.”
According to “Rock the Vote” chairman and senator, Richard Alvarez, ASG has managed to register 185 students during the past month. Various ICC clubs have also managed to register nearly 150 students.
Now that the opportunity to register to vote in the upcoming election is coming to a close, ASG’s focus has shifted to further educating student voters on specific ballot initiatives. In addition, the student government is working to ensure that voter turnout through Election Day is substantial.
For many students and faculty members, Proposition 30 is a pivotal issue that is certain to shape the future of California’s community colleges and universities. If the proposition fails, cuts to the college would be so severe that many familiar courses would be removed from the Spring 2013 curriculum.
According to the interim vice president of instruction, Kelly Fowler, “For our college, we are looking at approximately fifty to sixty sections that may be impacted if the proposition fails.”
FCC administrators have gone so far as to draft two versions of the Spring 2013 class schedule. The substantial impact of Proposition 30’s passage or failure is also why registration for the spring semester was postponed until after the election.
Due to these dire ramifications, “The (ASG) senate took a position of support for Prop. 30,” said Alonzo. “We’re going to start going out to classrooms here pretty soon and telling students what’s on the ballot, especially regarding Prop 30.”
Prospective voters who participate in the shaping of California’s and the nation’s future not only have the opportunity to provide ample funding for Fresno City College, they also have the chance to possibly abolish the death penalty, relax standards for the state’s “three-strikes” law, expand penalties for human trafficking and much more.
With the option of registering to vote in the coming election expiring this Tuesday, FCC students and faculty members are now encouraged to vote in advance of the election.
Early and absentee voting are tremendously popular voting methods. In some states, more voters vote early or cast absentee ballots than stand in line at a designated polling station.
Downtown, the popularity of early voting is apparent. “We’ve seen a lot of interest this election,” said Fresno County’s assistant registrar of voters, Kathy McClue. “I would say that early turnout is on par with 2008.”
Those seeking to cast their ballot well in advance of Election Day can simply head to the Fresno County Elections Office at 2221 Kern St. Free parking spaces are also provided for early voters.
Those who wish to vote absentee can find the application on the back of the sample ballot that registered voters recently received in the mail.
Students and faculty are strongly encouraged to read their sample ballots to better understand the issues at stake in the upcoming election. Voters can find a summary of each proposition and can consider the arguments for and against each initiative.
