The ASUNM election commission's voter outreach program is continuing as planned despite the Presidential Appointments Committee's unexpected rejection of interim election commissioner Julianita Maestas last week.
Maestas had been heading up the commission's Voter Outreach Task Force.
Several current senators and candidates greeted and distributed election information to about 2,000 students at an information booth set up near the west end of Zimmerman Library.
The Voter Outreach Task Force hopes to reach from 4,000 to 5,000 students in the days leading up to the election, Elections Commission Chairperson Danny Milo said. He added that candidates at the booth were limited to handing out "Get Ready, Get Out and Vote" fliers and other general election information.
"They can say 'Vote for me,' but they have to hand out our stuff," he said as the group packed up the booth Monday afternoon.
Maestas was denied confirmation during a Senate meeting Nov. 7. She had been working as an interim election commissioner up to that point, focusing on the voter outreach campaign, which is aimed at increasing the number of students who vote in ASUNM elections. Voter turnout is usually less than 2,000 students.
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The reason for the denial, committee chairperson Heather Gabel said, was that Maestas had broken rules regarding the conduct of election commissioners by campaigning for a friend during the homecoming election last month. Maestas has admitted helping homecoming queen candidate Aika Aguilar campaign for half an hour the day of the election.
"We thought she had done a good job, but she violated the Lawbook," Gabel said. "When you go through (the Presidential Appointments Committee), we make sure everyone appointed is going to stick to the Lawbook."
Article 1, Section 2 of the Elections Code section of the ASUNM Lawbook defines the duties of election commissioners.
Item F of that section reads: "The Election Commission will conduct themselves at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the election process."
"We felt that by campaigning for a particular candidate in the public as an interim election commissioner she was breaking that part of the Lawbook," Gabel said. "They're an election commissioner for all elections, even homecoming."
Though the Homecoming Committee handles that election, the Election Commission is usually called upon to help out.
Gabel said the Presidential Appointments Committee would have interviewed Maestas Oct. 17, but she was ill and could not attend, hence the last-minute hearing.
Gabel said Milo told the committee that he had gone over the elections code with each of the commissioners during two meetings, one of which Maestas attended.
Milo said Maestas immediately quit campaigning when he approached her at around 4:30 p.m. and told her it was inappropriate.
"In the morning she asked me if she could campaign, and I told her I would get clarifications and get back to her," he said. "The second I told her, she removed all her campaign materials and came back with the commission."
He declined to comment on whether he agreed with Maestas' rejection, but did say that by campaigning, a commissioner is not being impartial.
ASUNM president Andrea Cook agreed with the committee's decision.
"It's unfortunate because she was doing such a great job, but if you break one of those rules that are set forth to show that you are unbiased, then you can't really prove that you aren't," she said. "The committee can't allow for people to break the rules. But they did recognize that she'd been doing an outstanding job."
In an interview, and in a letter published Friday in the Daily Lobo, Maestas maintains that her dismissal was not because she helped a friend campaign, but because she has refused to "cater to traditional Greek politics." She said she believes ASUNM has held her participation last year in The Coalition slate against her.
"I was discredited for something as petty as passing out a couple of flyers for half an hour for a candidate that didn't even win - I know this is a matter of politics and the type of person I am," she said. "Honestly, what The Coalition did last year was beginning to topple the traditional Greek dynasty that has been going on for years on this campus."
Milo said other election commissioners picked up the voter outreach program where Maestas left off.
"She already had everything almost done," he said.
Maestas said she will continue to help out in any way she can but will campaign for anyone she chooses.
