If you haven’t heard of the SF State student organization Orange Band, don't worry--neither had Associated Students Vice President of External Affairs, Abtin Forghani.

“We don’t have a club called Orange Band, do we?” Forghani asked before Orange Band’s funding request totaling $500 was put to a vote.

His question was met with laughter and a chorus of “Yes, we do.”

“Welcome to State,” Freshman Representative Krupa Kothari said.

Orange Band was one of five student organizations the board approved funding requests for at Wednesday’s meeting of SF State’s Associated Students Board of Directors.

Requests were approved for the Pilipino American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE) in the amount of $10,150, the Asian Student Union (ASU) for $10,427, the ECO Students for $500 and the Ceramics Guild for $500.

The board also approved Votenet Solutions Inc. to provide a software platform that will allow SF State to hold online elections.

“It’s always been a challenge to get students to vote,” said Peter Koo, the executive director of ASI. “We’re hoping this will increase turnout.”

Koo said the software will be in place when ASI’s next elections take place March 17 through 21. Online voting will be accessible to students 24 hours a day during that week.

The Votenet Solutions software package has an approximate annual cost of $3,000.

The seat behind the nameplate of the board’s president, Isidro Armenta, was empty while Armenta sat in one of the chairs provided for members of the public. Education Representative Sharef Al Najjar said that Armenta could not participate as a voting member until the question of his eligibility for office is resolved. Al Najjar explained further that Armenta may have accrued more than the 150 maximum class units an undergraduate is allowed to have when serving in student government.