LBCC’s 2025-2026 ASB Election voter turnout more than doubled from last year’s with a total of 235 voters.
The election for the Associated Student Body ran from April 15 to April 18, with the winning electees being Priince Bass for ASB president, Marja Needham for LAC vice president, Liliana Zazueta for TTC vice president, Beatriz Freeman for VP of legislative affairs, Pise Leiataua for student trustee, Irie Harper for ASB treasurer and Angeline Anderson for ASB secretary.
Despite the increase, 235 voters make up just 0.006% of the college’s estimated population of over 38,000, according to a press release made in August 2024 by LBCC.
The percentage rises to 0.01% if only the over 20,000 estimated full-time students are considered.
Voting for the ASB Elections have been held online in recent years, but voting was held a month earlier for this year’s election.
Voting was held through the VikingEngagement site and accessed through QR codes on flyers or through links posted on the ASB’s Instagram.
Candidates campaigned via in-class announcements, social media and on-campus events after applications were processed on April 14, a week after they were submitted.
Student Activities Advisor Kim Hamon said allowing electees to receive their benefit was the reason for the scheduling change, and shared that this year’s turnout was the second highest in her six years at LBCC.
“We tried to make it easy through our Instagram story, and we moved voting up by a month so electees could get more benefits, such as early registration for the upcoming academic semester. I feel it helped that Student Life had many events this week for the electees to campaign at,” said Hamon.
Compared to the 2023-24 election, more students actively ran for positions, even if some candidates were the lone options besides write-ins.
Previously, the only positions up for voting were ASB president, student trustee and ASB secretary since they were the only positions that had received applications.
This year, LAC vice president, TTC vice president, VP of legislative affairs, ASB treasurer and ASB secretary were on the ballot along with the aforementioned three positions, with student trustee being the most sought after position.
Despite the wider spread of candidates and positions, students like Lorenzo Soria Vazquez, who primarily attends classes at the TTC campus, was present for three of the four voting days, but failed to see or hear any campaigning.
“I didn’t even know there was an election in the first place. Usually at LAC, it feels more lively than it does at TCC, someone’s always shouting for an event over there, but not here,” said Vazquez.
Bass ran as the sole candidate for ASB president and garnered 218 supporters, over three times the number received for last elections presidential vote.
Because of his uncontested position, Bass campaigned alongside other candidates, and stressed that, “Campaigning should focus on letting students know that the ASB serves them.”
“We met with different professors and students at both campuses… and realized we didn’t have too much exposure. A lot of students didn’t even know what ASB was,” said Bass. “But they need to know it’s not just them against their professors or the board, they need to know it’s us against anybody, [ASB] with the students. This week was good in empowering students and letting them know there are people like them who care about the things they care about. We are in a position to do something about it, and if you voice your concerns, we will make it our priority to get it resolved.”
Bass’ vision for ASB focused on the continued building of engagement.
“I still want students to get involved, I still want people to know the process. I still want the students to know the power of their voices. Even with the increase in votes… our goal is to get even more students involved, more people voting, more people knowing who we are,” said Bass.
The elected candidates are set to be sworn in during an ASB Banquet event on May 19 at 3 p.m. in LAC’s W-201.