College Trustees Uphold Results of Student Voting

Two candidates in a community college district student election say a soft drink giveaway designed to combat voter apathy instead dumped cold water on their campaigns.

But despite the protests, Ventura County Community College District trustees on Tuesday upheld the results of the May 12 student trustee election. Kim Cheline, a Moorpark College student, won that election.

The district’s student trustee is elected by students from the three colleges in the district: Moorpark College, Oxnard College and Ventura College. The position is advisory, but the student trustee is empowered to introduce and second motions to the five district trustees.

Incumbent student trustee Andrea Curtis of Oxnard College asked community college trustees to overturn the election because of the free drinks. Curtis also said that she and Cheline improperly campaigned near voting places on the Moorpark College campus.

Curtis, 22, contended that the free soft drinks given to students who voted at Moorpark College gave Cheline an unfair advantage over the candidates from the district’s two other colleges. Curtis finished third in the election behind Ventura College’s Melissa Smith, 21.

Cheline, 18, denied violating any election rules. The Moorpark College bookstore has given free soft drinks to student voters for the past 10 years, she said.

“The drinks were for anybody who voted,” not for the benefit of any one candidate, Cheline said.

A report by district officials investigating the charges and submitted at Tuesday’s public hearing said no rules were broken in the election.

But Moorpark College student activities director Allyn Olson said that Curtis and Cheline improperly displayed campaign flyers near polling booths during the election. That violation, Olson said, was reported by Smith and the flyers were immediately removed.

Although district election rules say that candidates may be disqualified for campaign abuses, the improperly posted flyers are “a minor violation,” Olson said.

Smith, 21, said those violations should be grounds to disqualify Cheline and Curtis or another election should be held in October. She also complained about the soft-drink giveaway.

Smith received 410 votes and Curtis, who will hold the student trustee post until June 30, got 273 votes. Cheline won the election with 466 votes. About 25,400 students at all three campuses were eligible to vote.