By Helen O’Neal, Kiran Foster, Lulu Levy, Online Editor-in-Chief, Online Sports Editor, and Online Feature Editor
// As the Acalanes Union High School District (AUHSD) and Lafayette School District (LAFSD) school board elections approach, candidates have been working to gain popularity amongst voters to secure their seats.
An unknown individual placed flyers regarding candidates running for the AUHSD and LAFSD school boards on attendees’ cars at the football game at Campolindo High School against Acalanes High School on Oct. 14.
The flyers included the names of the six candidates and stated, “The only MAGA APPROVED candidates for the 2022 Lafayette and AUHSD school boards!”.
“It was a small placard of an advertisement of all of the Republican candidates that were running for the school board. It had the names of the candidates and their logos,” Campolindo senior Nathan Jay said.
Flyers were placed on the windows of cars in the Campolindo parking lot and on nearby streets during the game.
“I [parked] in the Campo parking lot. I noticed a bunch of flyers on all of the cars, and then [there was] one on my car. They were on all of the cars,” Acalanes senior Sarah Potter said.
Some students were unsettled and unsure of the connotations of the flyers.
“I thought it was so unprecedented, just putting [flyers] on random strangers’ cars, especially students too. Then just the fact that it didn’t explain anything and it was so random,” Campolindo senior Nikita Vayner said.
Typical campaigning has occurred through postcards sent to residents, lawn signs, and word of mouth. However, these flyers prove some have chosen alternative, non-traditional methods of publicity.
“This is a more direct way of campaigning as it felt very personal. Most people will put signs up supporting candidates but that was kind of it. Now people are targeting individuals and asking them directly to vote for a candidate, and in this example by putting flyers on every car at the football game, instead of putting up a yard sign,” Jay said.
While it is not unusual for campaigns to promote themselves in an election, students had varying opinions on campaigning at school-related events.
“I think what they did was okay, because they were doing it after school and it was [an event with] a lot of people who are involved in the schools,” Potter said.
Some question the effectiveness of the flyers placed during the football game and their benefits in gaining support for the upcoming elections.
“It might persuade people to research more about the candidates, which I hope does happen, but I don’t think it’s convincing enough to make people vote for them,” Jay said.
Photos by Helen O’Neal, Editor-in-Chief