As the rest of the United States struggles to decide a Democratic candidate for the presidential election, EC has began its ASO Senate elections as filing applications and petitions to run for Senate or executive offices were due on April 23.
“When you don’t participate, it’s apathy,” Harold Tyler, dean of student services, said. “It’s very important to have a student voice.”
ASO petitions require that each candidate state that they have at least a 2.0 GPA, at least six units and that they are maintaining those requirements.
Senate or executive positions require 25 signatures if you are running for a senator position, such as the senator of fine arts, and at least 50 signatures for executive positions.
Once petitions are filed, ASO election committee members validate each petition, to make sure the candidate has met all the requirements and to check to see that all signatures received are correct.
“We make sure elections are fair and valid so we don’t give favors to executives already involved in office,” Vince Armstrong, election committee chairperson, said.
Armstrong and Tyler advise that those intent on running should get at least 10-12 more signatures in case the election committee finds any invalid student signatures on the petition.
Once verification is done, a list of qualified candidates will be posted on Tuesday, April 29, in the Student Development Office. Then the campaign will begin.
Questions have arisen about whether or not the job of the ASO senator is still important to the campus.
A senator position represents the different division offices on campus and each division has two senators.
Senators find out the needs of each division and bring the issues of the division back to ASO for consideration.
“Everybody wants the big name positions, but then they get in there (ASO office) and they feel like they don’t know what is going on,” Tyler said. “People appreciate a leader who takes action.”
Campaigning for potential ASO senators begins Tuesday and voting will take place May 12 through May 15.
“It is a great process and it is part of the college experience,” Armstrong said.
