With the A.S. general election coming up, it's important to know whether candidates are pressuring students too much for their vote.
Generally, during a statewide or national campaign, candidates have to be 100 feet away from one specific polling location, said political science Professor Diana Dwyre. In California, some polling places don't even allow voters to wear stickers or buttons.
In the A.S. election next week, it's possible for students to vote from any computer, including one set up by a candidate running in the election, said Tara Harmon, A.S. elections officer.
This process is called "electioneering" and is illegal in the state of California, but allowed at Chico State.
"We've regulated it so that candidates can have one laptop per booth at a time," Harmon said.
Some candidates will be at booths in front of the Student Services Center, others just north of the Meriam Library and some on the Glenn Hall lawn.
There are more booths than candidates, so it's possible for one candidate to have three booths, Harmon said.
There will also an A.S.-sponsored polling place on the Siskiyou Hall lawn that's non-partisan, she said.
"You can vote from any computer you want," Harmon said. "We didn't want people to feel pressured at a specific booth."
In past elections at Chico State, campaigners would go around to the residence halls with their computers and get students to vote in their favor, Dwyre said.
"Voting is supposed to be a private matter," she said. "Students should not have to be watched by someone who has a stake in the election. It's just not fair from the candidates."
It's quite problematic that A.S. is allowing this type of process to occur, she said.
"It is contrary to everything we do in this country," Dwyre said.
Christian Garcia, candidate for A.S. president, thinks it would be beneficial to have one, and only one, designated non-partisan polling location, such as the Bell Memorial Union.
"It's pretty ridiculous for candidates to have their own polling place," Garcia said. "It would make it more fair for students to have one designated polling place, and it would ease tension between candidates. It could even possibly increase the number of students voting."
Sophomore Patrick Stokes has voted in a previous election at a candidates' booth, but it has not caused him to be persuaded one way or another.
"They already have the mindset of trying to persuade me to vote for them," Stokes said. "I told the candidate that I'd vote for him, even though it wasn't true."
August Walsh can be reached at awalsh@theorion.com
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