In a pre-election poll conducted over BlitzMail by The Dartmouth, over 50 percent of students said they plan to vote for Josh Green '00 and Case Dorkey '99 for Student Assembly president and vice president, respectively. But nearly half of students polled said they were unaware elections will be held this week.
The poll was sent via e-mail to 1,750 students on Sunday and Monday afternoons with 270 responding, for a response rate of 15.4 percent. Of those who responded, 187, or 69.3 percent, said they are planning to vote during Wednesday and Thursday's election period.
Of those 187 students, 98 (52.4 percent) indicated they plan to vote for Green. The other votes were split almost evenly between his opponents Dan Powell '00 (15.0 percent) and Dan Rygorsky '99 (14.4 percent). Thirty-four respondents, or 18.2 percent, said they were undecided.
Of the candidates for Assembly vice president, Dorkey received the majority of votes in the poll, with 115 (61.5 percent). Opponent Rob Auten '00 received 38 (20.3 percent) votes, with 18.2 percent of the voters still undecided.
In light of the shortened campaign period this year, The Dartmouth pre-election poll also asked students if they knew elections are being held this week.
Nearly half -- 47.7 percent -- said they were not aware elections are this week.
The final candidates' list was not released until last Wednesday, so the entire campaign period is only one week long this year. In past years, the campaigning period has been up to one month.
The Election Advisory Committee decided to shorten the campaign period because candidates last year said the "last stretch was exhausting for candidates academically and emotionally," Director of the Collis Center and Student Activities Mark Hoffman told The Dartmouth last week. Hoffman chairs the EAC.
Due to the shortened election period, there will only be two public debates before the elections tomorrow and Thursday.
One candidate debate was last Wednesday night in Collis, and the other is tomorrow night during a special edition of Rocky on the Radio on the College's WDCR station.
The Dartmouth poll asked students if they had attended the Candidate Fair and Speech Night, and an overwhelming majority (87.8 percent) of students said they did not attend. The event was sponsored by the EAC as an opportunity for students to meet and ask questions of the candidates.
Students can vote for Assembly president and vice president, their class president and vice president, Committee on Standards members, Green Key Society members, class Assembly representatives and Class of 2001 at-large representatives beginning 9 a.m. tomorrow and ending 5 p.m. Thursday. Ballots are available on the web at http://www.dartmouth.edu/projects/elections.
