by Arthur Simoni
Daily Lobo
Only 807 undergraduates voted in Wednesday's election as the Progression slate swept the ballot and both UNM Constitutional amendments passed.
Amy Cook, Matthew Burgess, Melanie Giron-Carpenter, Megan Cisneros, Celestina Torres, Justin Crosby, Charlene Sevilla, Cicely Gragg, Kevin Stevenson and Christopher Chavez were chosen as senators for the Associated Students of UNM. They will take office beginning in the spring 2003 semester.
Senator-elect Christopher Chavez said he was pleased that his slate was able to gain so many seats.
"I am very proud," Chavez said. "I think a lot of things can be accomplished with the ten of us that were elected. Being a part of a slate helped immensely."
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Senator-elect Justin Crosby thanked the students who came out and voted for him.
"I know a lot of people supported our cause." Crosby said. "I think it shows that when people with similar views get together as a whole it also helps the individual."
Charlene Sevilla agreed with Crosby, saying the slate worked extremely hard.
"I am so excited right now," Sevilla said. "But I'll be even more excited when we get to work on the issues that were important to the slate."
Amanda Woods, Daniel Ruiz, Jeremy Foreman, Daniel Trujillo, Delia Ann Tripp and Frank Murray ran as independents and were not elected. Foreman said that not being part of a slate might have cost him a seat in the senate.
"I wish the best of luck to them in their endeavors," Foreman said. "I plan on running again next semester, but I'll be more likely to run with a slate instead of independently."
Foreman added that he was disappointed in the small voter turnout.
"I think it's pathetic that so many people take the right to vote for granted," he said.
Tripp and Woods said that it was just fun to be involved in the process.
"I think it was great way to get involved with UNM," Woods said. "It was a lot of fun and I wish the new senators a lot of luck."
Tripp echoed Woods, saying that she was fine with the results but she felt not being part of a slate also hurt her campaign.
"The slates are more visible," she said. "Maybe I would have had a better chance if I was Greek."
Constitutional Amendments 1 and 2 both passed easily. Amendment 1, which corrects the title of joint student-faculty committees to reflect the language throughout the UNM constitution passed 489 for to 71 against. Amendment 2, which clarifies that only one ballot may be cast per student with a valid photo identification, passed 583 for to 25 against.
Reyna Chavez, Elections Commission chairwoman said that the campaign seemed to go smooth and there were no indications of elections code violations.
"I was disappointed with the turnout, but I wasn't really surprised," Chavez said. "It wasn't a really heated election so I wasn't expecting a huge turnout. There were only 16 candidates on the ballot. Usually there are 20 to 25. Also there weren't any controversial amendments, and that was a factor."
