10 seats up for grab in ASUNM election

by Ashleigh Sanchez

Daily Lobo

Candidates running in the ASUNM Senate election have one common goal: student involvement.

The 12 candidates are vying to fill 10 Senate seats for the spring semester.

Voting will be open online from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today.

Every student will receive an e-mail with a link to the ballot. Students need their UNM Net ID and password to vote.

Ten of the 12 candidates are running on the Link slate, whose platform is to improve communication between students and administration, said Molly Maguire-Marshall, a Link candidate.

"I think ASUNM is doing a good job, and I want to build on that," Maguire-Marshall said.

A slate is similar to a political party, where members share common goals and views, ASUNM Vice President Matt Barnes said.

Javier Manriquez, running as an independent, said he disagrees with having 10 out of 12 candidates on one slate.

"I don't think you can get a fair vote from the Senate if all the other senators are friends," he said. "If elected, my vote would be for the students, not so I agree with my friends in the Senate."

Manriquez said he wants to improve retention rates by encouraging students to get involved with activities on campus.

"If elected, I would make sure more money goes to student organizations, so they have the ability to recruit and advertise their activities," he said. "That way, they can interact with students more and keep up retention rates."

Manriquez said he wants to set up booths in the SUB to make ASUNM more accessible.

"Senators have office hours, but the requirement is only two hours, and students just don't come in here," he said.

Joe Sanchez, an incumbent running with Link, said he is seeking re-election to finish what he started this semester with ASUNM.

"We are working on a monthly calendar of events for all organizations," he said. "Events aren't publicized enough, and a lot of students don't know who to contact or what they are doing."

Incumbents Christina Lovato and Jenny Ding are also seeking re-election on the Link slate. Sanchez, Lovato and Ding got into the Senate by filling in for senators who were elected but dropped out.

Senators serve one-year terms, with 10 of the 20 Senate seats up for election each semester.

Lovato said she wants to continue her work to improve Johnson Field.

"We saw an 80 percent increase in student use after the lights went up," she said. "Now, students are telling us that they want the field leveled off and the watering reduced."

Candidate Joseph Dworak, who is running on the Link slate, said he wants to promote student groups and services so students get involved.

"I would like to see ASUNM getting a lot more information out to freshmen at Lobo Orientation," he said.

A full list of candidates and voting information is available at Election.unm.edu.