Recently, the Associated Students at the University of New Mexico announced the hires for student service agency executive directors, including rehires and new faces alike. One such new face is Mac Bagwell, executive director of the Elections Commision, who plans to work diligently in the position.
As executive director of the Elections Commision, Bagwell’s primary responsibility is overseeing the entire agency in protecting the integrity of all student elections, including senatorial, presidential and homecoming elections.
A junior majoring in criminology and political science, Bagwell is also an executive board member of the Pre-Law Society and vice-president of the UNM chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success, on top of her ongoing work with Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and ASUNM. To Bagwell, being so widely involved on campus has helped her prepare for her role as executive director.
“I love being involved at UNM; it’s probably my favorite thing about the school. It’s exposure to people, and obviously a willingness to try and learn new things,” Bagwell said.
Bagwell also showed promise from her prior experience as a commissioner with the Elections Commision, where she had first-hand experience seeing how the committee worked and the value it brought to UNM.
“As a commissioner, I just got along really well with my boss and a couple people who have been in the agency. I really enjoyed my time as a commissioner and I was encouraged by people who had held the position previously to apply and I did, and luckily I was able to get it,” Bagwell said.
ASUNM President Ian May, alongside Vice President Krystah Pacheco, approved Mac’s hire and agreed Bagwell was a great fit for the position.
“We were really confident in Mac as a pick for elections,” May wrote to the Daily Lobo. “She really impressed in her interview, and her experience in the elections commission made Krystah and I very confident that she will run a good commission. During the interview, Mac's experience demonstrated the strong work ethic and professionalism that she's already been delivering on.”
Demonstrating this work ethic already, Bagwell is hard at work getting ready for the new year and the challenges it will bring, already working with Lobo Spirit on preparing for homecoming elections. Bagwell is also overseeing the Election Commission’s move to a new office in the lower level of the Student Union Building.
Bagwell encourages students wishing to get involved in the Elections Commision to apply to be a commissioner or assistant director; applications for both positions are available on asunm.unm.edu.
“The assistant director does a lot of the same things that I do and helps distribute down what we’re doing as a whole in the agency. The commissioners do more of the grunt work, but it’s also more of the fun stuff,” Bagwell said.
Students uninterested in working with the agency are still encouraged to get involved through voting in student elections, as the ASUNM senate, president and vice president are directly involved in lobbying on behalf of the student body. Students can stay up to date with election dates and results, visit the Election Commission's website or follow them on Instagram @asunmelections.
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Spenser Willden is the culture editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @spenserwillden
