The voter turnout out for the 2012 Presidential Election was 57.5 percent, according to the Center for the Study of the American Electorate.
And that percentage was far greater than the approximate 10 percent voter turnout at last year’s ASLPC election, and that was with the guarantee of free food.
The Associated Students of Las Positas College (ASLPC) is nearing this year’s election process, and there are no signs that student participation will be any better this year.
In the opinion of the editorial board of The Express, the student body of Las Positas College is at an utter lack of self-interest.
The faculty and staff of our college is excellent and the facilities are state-of-the-art, so any fallacy that LPC is less than an excellent community college is the fault of the student body. And that starts with the inadequacy of interest from the students.
One of the duties that the student government is responsible for is the satisfaction of the student body. And that duty is difficult to carry out when the students’ involvement is so low.
Many of the more than 8,000 students are unaware of the student senate and their responsibilities, perhaps that is the explanation for a lack of voter turnout.
As is the case with most programs on a college campus, however, the onus of the program’s success never falls solely on the student body.
In the past ASLPC has not commanded much attention for itself. Nor have they done a great job of promoting their own visibility.
However, that is something in the process of remedying.
Student Life Advisor Scott Miner is working on making voting take place over the course of an entire week, as opposed to the two days allotted by the current process. Also, Miner is hoping to make voting available online.
Hopefully greater access to balloting will increase voter turnout.
Whether or not the new voting possibilities are made available this year, the over 8,000 students of LPC should be ashamed if voter numbers don’t reach a solid 30 percent.
That would be 2,400 votes. Far exceeding last year’s total which didn’t reach 900.
