Friday, April 17, 2009
Wichita graduate student Vanessa Sanburn had no expectations on April 7, election night. She said she was optimistic but had no idea whether she would be elected for a spot on Lawrence’s school board.
“This isn’t an election where there’s like people predicting who’s going to win or tells you where you are,” Sanburn said. “I did not expect to be one of the top runners.”
But she was a top runner. Sanburn had the second-highest number of votes in the elections, 65 votes behind the leader, winning her one of three spots open on the school board.
“I was really excited, especially because as the numbers first started coming in, I was in first place for most of the night,” Sanburn said. “That was really thrilling.”
Sanburn said she thought her message resonated well with people.
“A lot of things I was running for, the community seems to really appreciate,” Sanburn said. “Not only do I win, but I have the blessing of the community to do some of the things I want to do.”
For her campaign, Sanburn created a Web site and handed out flyers. She also got some help from volunteers.
“I didn’t have quite the campaign budget to get voter lists or get registered voter information,” Sanburn said. “I was pretty much knocking door to door, especially in my neighborhood, east Lawrence and old west Lawrence.”
Sanburn also started a Facebook group that drew about 150 people who wanted to help with her campaign.
“A lot of those people expressed interest in having yard signs, taking literature to their neighbors, just talking about me generally in the public, that type of thing,” Sanburn said.
Gaywyn Moore, Wichita graduate student, helped on Sanburn’s campaign.
“I asked for signatures so she could get on the ballot, I talked to people at work about her, I put a sign in my yard, and I hung a few informational fliers in my neighborhood,” Moore said. “Whatever I could do.”
Moore said she volunteered because her ideals were similar to Sanburn’s.
“As a fellow educator, I recognized both her dedication to solid educational goals and her rational approach to tackling educational challenges,” Moore said. “I think she ran on a sensitive, but very important topic: age-appropriate sexual education.”
The voter education coalition hosted three public forums for candidates to answer questions from the public and the groups involved in the coalition.
Sanburn said the three public forums helped promote her campaign.
“We weren’t overscheduled, but we had good public appearances, one of them was televised,” Sanburn said. “I think a lot of people saw that and were able to get a feeling for who we were.”
Sanburn said the forums also helped build her confidence.
“It’s a little nerve racking being in a forum and being asked questions that you don’t know beforehand and having to answer those,” Sanburn said. “I impressed myself with my ability to do that and do that without a lot of pain or problems.”
Among those who were excited about Sanburn’s election was her 6-year-old daughter, Nadia.
“I was really happy,” Nadia said. “It was really exciting.”
Sanburn said Nadia helped her pass out flyers around town and in other ways.
“Well I kind of like helped her do stuff,” Nadia said. “And left her alone when she needed to do stuff for her school board thing.”
Sanburn said she will go through training and take her seat in July.
— Edited by Liz Schubauer
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