Organizational advantages from the CalSERVE party during this year's ASUC elections may have helped bring about their executive sweep in the race, some student officials said.

While active campaigning such as walking students to class and chalking sidewalks are not new practices for the parties, some said more wide-reaching campaigns may have given CalSERVE a significant edge in the polls.

"I think CalSERVE has started to have more organized campaigns in the past two years and they've been more successful," said former ASUC president Manuel Buenrostro, who was part of the Student Action party. "Student Action was not as organized this year as it was in the past."

CalSERVE swept the executive officer positions, as announced last week, with Senator Roxanne Winston as president, party member Krystle Pasco as executive vice president, party member Carlo de la Cruz as academic affairs vice president and Dionne Jirachaikitti, the current external affairs vice president's chief of staff, as external affairs vice president.

The ASUC Senate also saw a significant change. Student Action and CalSERVE will each hold eight of the 20 senatorial seats next year, according to preliminary results. Student Action won 10 seats to CalSERVE's six last year, although those numbers recently shifted because of the resignation of Student Action Senator Philip Kim.

The ability to reach many students over the course of a campaign in a more personal way has also helped CalSERVE candidates this year, said CalSERVE Senator Shawn Jain, who replaced Kim in the senate.

"I think both sides have come to realize that chalking on sidewalks and fliering is not the most effective way of mobilizing voters," Jain said. "The substance of our campaign is why we were able to win so many more seats than in the past."

Some students echoed Jain's sentiments, saying they often used the opportunity to meet candidates on Sproul Plaza and hear what they had to say in choosing who to vote for.

"I heard a candidate on Sproul talking about student safety and getting more lighting, which is important to me because I live on Northside and often get home very late," said senior Pheaross Graham.

Vishal Gupta, Student Action party chair and former executive vice president, said that CalSERVE's campaign better addressed students' voting trends.

"I thought that (CalSERVE) came out very strong and ... found a way to reach a lot more students than we did this year," Gupta said. "Traditional campaigning is focused on reaching students who walk to campus polls ... and we need to strategize a little differently to reach students who now vote from computers at home."

On top of better organization, Jirachaikitti said the work CalSERVE officials have done this year, holding three of the four executive offices, helped motivate more students to vote for them.

"The experience of this year really showed students the potential of what the ASUC can be," Jirachaikitti said. "Students were able to see results and ... how we can make positive change in student government, and that was really reflected in the vote."

ASUC officials said next year could also bring a more cohesive and productive senate, as the two parties share an equal amount of seats in the senate, according to the preliminary results.

"Sometimes in the senate it seems as if there's not as much debate and compromise to pass bills as there should be," said Independent Senator Nadir Shams. "Now with the clean split, senators of both parties will have to talk or else nothing can get done."

Tags: ASUC ELECTIONS