The Students for Students slate swept both the ASUNM presidential and vice presidential positions for next year.
President-elect Caroline Muraida beat her opponent Ashkii Hatathlie, who ran on the Impact slate, 1028 to 735, while Vice President-elect Sunny Liu beat Bridget Chavez, also of the Impact slate, 963 to 796. The Impact slate took six Senate seats, while Students for Students took five. While ten seats were up for grabs in the election, an 11th half term Senate seat opened up after Muraida, who still had one semester left to serve on her term as senator, was elected Senate president.
Muraida said she was relieved she was elected, but said she was disheartened by the loss of other members of her slate.
“It is incredibly overwhelming, I am excited for next year to begin, and I am excited to start working with the new team, but at the same time, there is a sense of bitterness of not having the team that I ran with, but that is the nature of elections,” she said.
Muraida said she looked forward to working with members of the Impact slate who were elected to Senate seats.
“The sooner we can get past this point, and start thinking about working together next year, the better,” she said. “I am looking forward to hearing more from the senators and starting the process now, starting early. All in all, it was a major experiment, a major learning experience and I am incredibly proud of my teammates.”
Hatathlie said despite his loss, he wishes the best of luck to the newly elected members of ASUNM.
“I am very thankful that part of my team was elected this semester, I also feel very fortunate to have been able to run with such a talented group of people,” he said. “I wish them the best of luck and I look forward to their future accomplishments in ASUNM student government.”
This year, 1,843 students turned out to vote, beating last year’s spring election turnout of 1,781.
Chavez expressed her disappointment in losing the vice presidential seat to Liu, but said she will continue to support ASUNM.
“We worked really hard and did the best that we could and obviously we are disappointed,” she said. “I could not be more happy for the members that did get elected and I am confident that everything happens for a reason.”
Chavez said she is not yet sure of her plans for next year but said her continued participation in ASUNM is not out of the picture.
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“I am thinking about doing an internship in Washington, D.C. but that is still up in the air,” she said. “We will see what (non-elected) positions open up in ASUNM, and I want to be involved, but I just don’t know yet. It is just too early to decide.”
Julie Lautenschleger, a senatorial candidate who ran on the Impact slate and who received 662 votes, will serve a half term as the 11th elected senator, replacing Muraida, who still had one semester left to serve on her term as senator. Lautenschleger said she was very proud of the effort put in by all the members of her slate, particularly Hatathlie and Chavez.
“Honestly, they worked incredibly hard throughout the entire campaign,” she said. “No regrets. They are amazing whether they were elected or not. I am still proud of them and I am sure they are still proud of themselves as well.”
Hatathlie and Chavez did not have any time in their term as senators remaining.
Senatorial candidate Spenser Owens, who ran as an independent separately from both slates, received the lowest number of votes with 409.
ASUNM Elections Director Claire Mize said elections went smoothly this year. Mize said the elections committee took extra steps to increase participation from dorm residents.
“We did ‘Rock the Vote’ (to encourage voting),” she said. “With all the construction by the dorms, they wanted to make it easier for those kids to vote. People got free food if they had an ‘I Voted’ sticker. They gave out lemonade and encouraged people to vote. They also played music and had a barbecue.”
Muraida said she wants to focus on increasing outreach and communication between ASUNM, students and the administration and hopes to host a series of town halls next year.
Liu said he will work to unify members of the Senate in preparation for next year.
“I hope this isn’t the end,” he said. “All of us are student leaders, we all have great intentions going into this and I think that the results should not matter,” he said.
