On Wednesday, Greg Romero and Ryan Regalado were elected ASUNM president and vice president for the upcoming 2021-22 school year.
The election marked another abysmally low voter turnout for the University of New Mexico, with only 874 voters (5.2%) out of a total of 16,662 eligible undergraduates participating in the election.
Romero received 341 votes, beating his closest opponent by more than seven percentage points: an impressive margin, given the four-way race. Regalado garnered almost the same number at 329, taking 37% of the vote.
Romero and Regalado prevailed despite having to contend with unanticipated challenges, obstacles and adjustments, including learning and living in an environment inundated by a pandemic.
Issues at the forefront of Romero’s agenda include improved communications with UNM administration, college affordability and campus safety.
“The unfortunate truth is that, as much power as the ASUNM president has had within the student body, it hasn't seemed to matter much in terms of the budget, leadership team and our student fee requests,” Romero said.
Romero and Regalado awaited the election results at the recently opened Topgolf entertainment venue. Romero said he and his running mate felt “really, really good” and “relieved” upon hearing the news that voters had chosen the two to hold ASUNM’s highest executive offices.
“We’re super excited,” Romero said. “That was the biggest thing we talked about over the campaign — (that we) have all these ideas and … to lose would have been so devastating, because we couldn’t do any of them.”
Regalado added, “We can start all of (our initiatives) right away.”
Romero and Regalado’s opposing candidates had positive things to say about the pair.
“I think out of our three opponents for this race, Greg and Ryan, are, I feel, the most competent,” vice presidential candidate Ian Baker said, adding that he hopes “they actively try to help the students.”
Noah Dowling-Lujan and Baker ran an anti-establishment slate, and they vowed to keep pushing back against the status quo.
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“We’re going to maintain our opposition to the kind of corrupt practices that happen at ASUNM,” Dowling-Lujan said.
Presidential candidate Ricardo Hill’s running mate, Lauren Candland, praised Romero and Regalado's victory. Candland said she was “honored to lose against … extremely qualified candidates” and was happy that they would be “taking the reigns of ASUNM.”
Prior to the announcement of the results, presidential candidate Jacob Olaguir thought he and fellow candidate Hill would “split the diversity vote" but that Romero and Regalado would ultimately “come out on top.” Neither Hill nor Olaguir’s running mate, Alina Le, could be reached for comment.
Romero and Regalado will assume their offices on May 15, 2021 — the last day of the spring semester.
Hevyn Heckes is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @H_Squared90
