The ASI election has caused controversy amongst election participants and student voters as most candidates have run unopposed and promotion for the election was less than the previous year.

ASI Marketing Associate Amy McVay said it is not surprising that candidates are unopposed and that Spring Break plays a big part in the election awareness.

“Students need to know that they’re going to run for election before Spring Break and that the election tutorials that are held start directly after,” McVay said. “It’s kind of up for the students to be aware and want to know that they need to run.”

According to McVay, candidates have held previous positions or offices at their highs school because they have an interest in it.

One Sacramento State student, Julienne Sumodlvila, said that she is not surprised that there are candidates running unopposed.

“In high school, I did student government and I don’t think that it’s something that a lot of people think about, so it’s not really on people’s minds as much,” Sumodlvila said.

Information outreach tables have been available, as well as posters and social media promoting ASI. McVay said that the students who are running in the election have sought out information about it.

“I think it lies in the students’ hands to look around and pay attention to the surroundings,” McVay said. “We have signage up everywhere, it’s filled all over our Facebook and Twitter [and] we’re out every week or every other week informing ASI.”

There has been talk and posters of a boycott, but so far no action other than students not participating in the voting process.

Another student, Meghan VanWoert, said she had not heard or seen anything regarding a boycott of the election.

McVay described the posters that had been placed around campus as black and white flyers mentioning candidates running uncontested due to lack of information.

Even though ASI has promoted, VanWoert said that she also has not heard much about the election.

“I just found out where I could hear about candidates [today] because I haven’t heard much about [them],” VanWoert said. “I usually don’t vote because I don’t know much about the candidates.”

Alpha Phi Omega member, Leon Segovia, said last year there was more information and promotion of the election.

“Last year a lot of [candidates] went to different organizations and they actually spoke out and there was a lot of flyering, a lot of talk [about voting],” Segovia said. “This year not so much. I feel like it wasn’t a lot of information, but yet as students it’s our own responsibility to go out and seek information.”

Segovia said last year candidates from both sides came to his organization meetings to explain what they wanted to do, but this year the organization was not contacted. He said he did not know about voting until today.

Candidate for Vice President of University Affairs Sara Tulane is paying attention only to what she needs to do as a candidate.

“I’m focusing more on running for a position, whether they’re unopposed or not you know that you still have to run, you still need students’ votes, so I know that I personally am trying to focus more on my efforts,” Tulane said.

She said even though students are boycotting, they have the right to do so if they do not believe in something or want it.

Voting for the ASI Election ends April 23 at 7:30 p.m.