Story by Haelee Kim
Associate Opinion Editor
Photo by Oscar Walsh
Photo Editor
Candidates for ASB’s 2020-2021 Commission kicked off their week of campaigning on Monday, Apr. 13 in preparation for online elections on Friday, Apr. 17. In light of L.A.’s stay-at-home order, ASB officers have opted to digitize the traditional campaign week, posting recordings of Q&A sessions and speeches done with the candidates for the student body.
Half of the Q&A sessions—also known as the Two Question Interview—were released on the ASB Instagram page on Monday, with the rest due to occur on Tuesday. Many commissioners have also launched Instagram pages for their campaigns, with many posting their own creative videos and captions.
“The adjustment to campaigning online has been a little challenge because I consider myself a people person and I was really looking forward to interacting with students of all grade levels to show them what I’m about,” candidate for Commissioner of Athletics and junior Khalil Murdock said. “For my campaign this week I plan to continue posting on my Instagram page about some of the ideas I have for South Pasadena Athletics.”
ASB officers have struggled to adjust to planning and coordinating online, but hope to continue finding new ways to reach out to the student body. ASB already has online plans for the upcoming class officer elections that traditionally follow the Commissioner elections.
“Most of the things for commission elections happened before the quarantine hit, so it was manageable [to move everything online], but the lack of communication and still being disconnected with everyone and the candidates slowed down the process,” current Commissioner of Internal Affairs and senior Hanwul Choi said. “It’s going to be tough because there are things like online petitions and mandatory meetings that we are going to have to recreate online.”
Official commissioner candidate speeches will be posted on Wednesday, Apr. 15. Commissioner voting links will open to students on the ASB website at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Apr. 16, and will close at 12 p.m. on Friday, Apr. 17.
