Facebook: Web site becomes outlet for elections humor, complaints
Continued from page 1
into votes. About 7,580 students cur
rently have Thefacebook profiles, but
only 2,960 students voted in the pri
mary election.
Ashley Rees and Jael Anker-Lagos’
group has 232 members, but received
907 votes to win the primary. Candi
dates Adam Walsh and Kyla Coy
have only 30 members in their group,
but received 455 votes in the contest.
Third-place candidates Jacob
Daniels and Adi Cargni have the most
members with 712 listed supporter?.
Yet the ticket received 22 votes less
than Walsh’s campaign.
Daniels said it is “tough to say”
what effect Thefacebook had on the
election, although he expected it to
work “a little better” than it did. He
said it was a good way to get students
interested, but not necessarily the
best way to get them to vote.
Daniels added that some students
were in multiple candidates’ groups.
“The loyalty really wasn’t there on
Facebook,” he said.
■ How to vote
ASUO general elections run through Friday.
Students must log into their DuckWeb accounts
at duckweb.uoregon.edu to vote.
Students can vote for all general and at-large can
didates but will only be able to vote for academic
senators running for the seat related to their majors.
Each student can vote only once. Students must
vote by 5 p.m. Friday.
Students can vote from any computer with ac
cess to DuckWeb. Campus locations include:
• EMU Computer Lab
• Knight Library Information Technolog/ Center
• McKenzie Hall Computer Lab
The Evan Geier-David Goward and
Anthony Caruso-Robbie McEachern
tickets both have 255 members, but
Geier received 250 votes compared
with Caruso’s 171 votes.
Candidates Nick Hudson and Alli
son Sprouse have 117 members.
Rees told the Emerald that The
facebook is “kind of an innovation,”
but it doesn’t replace talking with
students on the street.
“Our take on it is that the most
important thing in an election and
for the ASUO in general is having
contact with students,” she said.
“Facebook’s fun; I like Facebook,
but for campaigning we want to
make sure we’re actually building a
bridge with students and communi
cating with students.”
Anker-Lagos added that it’s a “great
way to gather contact information.”
Coy said the Internet phenome
non is useful for political cam
paigns, but hasn’t had a big effect
on the local level.
Walsh said Thefacebook can be a
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Adam & Kyla For ASUO exec.
ASHLEY AND JAEL FOR ASUO
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Doug and Pat For ASUO Exec
Evan & David 4 ASUO Exec
Harold and Kumar For asuo
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Name: I’m Tired of Pe
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Jacob and Adt For ASUO Exec!
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Since it began on Feb. 4,2004, Thefacebook.com has become a popular mode of communication among college students and recently became a tool for ASUO campaigners.
great tool to let students know who’s
running, but it is “ludicrous” to think
that because someone accepts an in
vitation to join a group that they will
actually vote.
The Daniels-Cargni ticket alsc
spent $40 for advertising on Theface
book, according to financial paper
work filed by the candidates. Adver
tisements currently cost $13 foi
University students and are viewec
about 40,000 each day, according tc
Thefacebook.com.
Daniels said the rationale behind
the ads was to encourage students to
vote online if they were already on
a computer.
“It was another attempt to grab the
attention of other people who didn’t
have their minds made up,” he said.
Daniels said he recently sent a
message to all his group members
urging them to vote for Walsh in the
general election this week, noting
that Thefacebook “might still affect
the election to some extent.”
More recently, the “Just say NO to
Ashley and Jael” group has attracted
35 members.
A group dedicated to EMU wind
energy Ballot Measure 21, which re
ceived a majority of the primary
vote, has 830 fewer members than
votes it received.
Thefacebook has also provided an
outlet for students to continue the
tradition of joke candidacies, such as
“Mechagodzilla For ASUO Presi
dent!,” “ Eric and Gray For asuo Co
presidents,” “Doug and Pat For ASUO
Exec” and fictional movie characters
“Harold and Kumar For asuo Exec.”
Students use the groups to express
other sentiments as well, such as
“I'm Tired of People Begging Me For
asuo Exec on Facebook. ”
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