The night after Team Unite was momentarily disqualified from the election process, the Heritage Center hosted the primary presidential and vice presidential debate.
The Vision Party and the Grow Party, the two remaining parties in the election, took the stage to earn student votes. Each partywas eager to convince students it would best represent student needs.
“Our platform encompasses a variety of students and helps us outreach,” said Justin Spangler, presidential candidate for the Vision Party and a sophomore in pre-business.
Madison Black, vice presidential candidate for the Vision Party and a junior in biomedical engineering, agreed with Spangler and said she wants to make sure every student on campus knows they have a place at the U.
Ali Sadler, presidential candidate for the Grow Party and a junior in political science, said one of her biggest priorities would be to reform in order to make the bill process more transparent and easier for students to find them online. She has previously served as the head of Government Relations for ASUU.
Most of the students in attendance at the debate were campaigning for ASUU. Sadler said this shows that the current system to reach out to students has failed.
Sadler feels she has the experience to represent students best. She does not believe there are a lot of reasons for students not to vote, but she thinks many students don’t vote because they do not feel like their vote will make much of a difference.
Spangler agreed with the Grow Party that the low voter turnout at the U is a major problem and reaching out to students with social media would help fix this problem.
“Out of the three parties, we are number one [in social media connectivity],” Spangler said.
Sadler said the Grow Party really wants to continue previous ASUU leaders’ initiatives and build on them.
“I have been so impacted by their previous work,” said Oliver Anderson, the vice presidential candidate of the Grow Party and a junior in human development and family studies.
Expanding ASUU to include students who are not typically heard would be a top priority for both Anderson and Sadler. Spangler said that in order to include more students, ASUU needs to reach out more and try and keep them on campus after class for events.
Black said it is more than just reaching out to students — ASUU has to make student feel more welcome at these events.
“Going into ASUU, we want students to feel encouraged and get them engaged,” Anderson said.
The primary election season will end Thursday and results will be announced the following day.
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