by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
Officer elections for the College Republicans went smoothly Monday - for the most part.
Phara Forsythe, former chairwoman of the College Republicans, requested UNM Police be present for the election because members Bob Cornelius and Justin Maier said they would filibuster the election if the voting procedures were not changed.
Members of the organization were allowed to vote or be nominated as an officer if they had participated in at least two events within the past year.
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Forsythe said an e-mail was sent to all members of the organization on four separate occasions that stated members must reply to the e-mail if they wanted to vote.
Maier did not filibuster the election even though he said he didn't receive the e-mail.
"I didn't get the e-mail," Maier said. "They kicked me off the listserve - how can I vote?"
He was planning on running for chairman, he said, but knew the officers were going to turn him down from voting.
"I thought this would happen," Maier said. "This is why we've been fighting the leadership of this executive board since April when they canceled elections. This is one reason we don't want them in power."
Forsythe said she postponed the April elections to amend the group's constitution.
She said Maier had every opportunity to vote and run for an officer if he would have responded to the e-mail.
"He took himself off the listserve - that's how you get off the listserve," Forsythe said.
She had sat down with Maier and explained to him the voting procedures prior to the election, she said, which included the date the e-mails were going to be sent out.
"He knew the procedure," Forsythe said. "He knew what he had to do."
Chris Atencio, who has been with the College Republicans since 2002, received the e-mail but wasn't able to vote because he didn't respond to Forsythe.
"It's completely my own fault," Atencio said. "I can only be upset at myself."
Cornelius was able to vote and was nominated for the chairman slot, but took his name out of the nomination. He said Maier should have been nominated.
"He's devoted. He's energetic. He's willing to get things done," said Cornelius, during his nomination speech. "I think Justin should be nominated here - not me."
Rodney Dunn was the only other nominee. He was elected as chairman of the College Republicans, succeeding Forsythe. Dunn said the election process went well because of Forsythe.
"I felt everything ran very smoothly," he said. "When putting together this election, Phara actually went to Student Activities and talked with people there - making sure she was doing everything fairly and by the books."
Officers were nominated in an open forum by those eligible to vote and were elected unanimously with the exception of the first vice chairman, Storm Field. For this race, voters had to cast ballots using paper and pencil because the race was too close.
Mariana Molina was elected as vice chairwoman, Chris Roybal was elected as secretary and Billy Gupton was elected as treasurer.
Dunn said he expected to be nominated for chairman of the College Republicans. He plans to recruit more members, he said.
"We're going to do a whole lot of tabling to recruit new members and try and build the member base back up with active members as opposed to just people on our list," Dunn said.
He hopes to put the past away, he said.
"I'm looking toward the future - not toward the past," Dunn said. "I hope that everyone else will do the same, and hopefully we can put the past behind us and reunify and keep moving forward."
Cornelius said the battle is not over. He said he will try to appeal the election by going to the dean of students, Randy Boeglin.
"It's not over by any means," he said. "The appeal starts tomorrow."
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