Almost exactly one year after classes transitioned to online learning, San José State’s Associated Students launched its second year of remote elections on Monday. 

During the “Meet the Candidates” event, hosted by the A.S. Student Elections Committee, more than 60 students attended to interact with candidates in three rounds of Zoom breakout rooms and two SJSU themed trivia games with prizes.

Brenda Le, A.S. events officer and business administration junior, said the event exceeded the committee’s expectations.

“The difficulties we anticipated before the event [were] getting students to come, such as regular students other than the candidates,” Le said in a Zoom call. 

There are 22 candidates running for positions on the A.S. board, with six running unopposed and one position with no current candidates.  

Flor Sario, a business administration senior and A.S. controller, said the candidate turnout is significantly greater compared to last year’s election. 

“This year has a lot of great candidates,” Sario said during the event. “Last year the turnout was lower as many dropped out due to the pandemic.” 

Le said the event’s format allowed students to speak up, get to know each other and also provided incentives to encourage more people into attending future events. 

The committee offered prizes for trivia activities and attendance including a Best Buy gift card, Nirvana Soul gift card, AirPods and a Nintendo Switch. 

Industrial and systems engineering senior Alyssa Carlos said she was pleased the event allowed her to discuss important topics with candidates directly and voice changes she wants to see on campus. 

“I thought there would be more candidates introducing themselves and it would be lecture style, but it was really interactive,” Carlos said in a Zoom call. “In a few breakout rooms we had really good conversations about what we wanted to see change on the SJSU campus.” 

Le said many candidates presented common themes in their campaign bios and conversations. 

“A lot of candidates are focused on social justice issues within the SJSU community,” she said.

Many candidates said during the event that although they’d prefer to campaign in person, they’re dedicated to being flexible and using their online platforms to their advantage. 

Gerard Pablo, a public relations junior and Director of Communications candidate, said he prefers connecting with individual students in person. 

“From the things I have learned from my major, I’m excited to start using those skills and apply them to posts and social media,” Pablo said during the event. “I enjoy campaigning in person, but I’m going to use this to my advantage by using multiple platforms.” 

Carlos said she was surprised and comforted to see candidates are willing to be adaptable regardless of the semester being online or in person.

“I thought there would be a lot of talk [from the candidates] about returning to campus,” Carlos said. “But what I got from the candidates was that they were willing to meet the student body wherever they are at, whether that is online or in person.”

Voters can expect to see a “Meet the Candidates” Instagram campaign on the A.S. account from April 6-9 as the next part of the election process.