Monday marks the start of the last undergraduate-student government election of the school year.
This go-around, 15 candidates are running to fill 10 vacancies in the Senate of the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico. The election runs from Monday, April 15 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17. All main campus undergraduates are eligible to vote online at myUNM, or in person on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Student Union Building.
In alphabetical order by first name, the candidates are Abby Lutz, Abigale Aldrich, Adam Lopez, Briana Flores, Dequez Irving, Emma Hotz, Erik Neal, Gabriel Ruja, Giovanni Chioda, Matthew Zank, Michel Rivera, Mohammad Jaber, Nolan McKim, Taysear Ali and Victor Ryan Regalado.
“If you want to win, you got to campaign,” said Executive Director of Elections Commissions Jordan Montoya during the candidate’s meeting at the beginning of April.
Many students may have seen unofficial slates such as ProgressUNM, Guide UNM and InvolveUNM campaigning on social media. However, voters select each candidate individually when they cast their ballot.
While the top ten candidates with the most votes are guaranteed seats, there is also a possibility that other candidates will become part of Senate.
If a Senator elected in the fall decides to resign, the runner-ups are called on to fill the vacancies. For example, Nick Morgan resigned his seat in February, propelling runner-up Andres Gonzalez into Senate to fulfill the rest of term.
In the event that there are not enough runner-ups to fill the resignations, the Vice President appoints as many students as needed to get to 20.
Justin Garcia is a staff reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers student government. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Just516garc.
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