Nine executive and 16 senator positions were available as students voted for their next elected student government officials at booths set up at El Camino College’s Library Lawn on Tuesday, March 28 and Wednesday, March 29.
Next fall, EC’s Associated Student Organization (ASO), who is responsible for a $450,000-plus budget that pays for programs including the Puente Project Program, the sports teams and The Union, will be led by new faces after every position was available.
One of those new faces may be sociology and administrative justice major Mario Lopez, who is currently the Spring Justice in the ASO Judicial Court.
Lopez campaigned for ASO President outside the Distance Education Center during the election days, informing students about what he would do if he was elected, including funding programs like the Extended Opportunity Program, which helps disadvantaged students.
“This year I think there was about $50,000 that were not touched and that’s a big issue,” Lopez said. “We want to use this money to better support students.”
Urwa Kainat, business division council member and presidential candidate ran on the hopes of improving food quality on campus, including lowering prices and adding Halal options.
Other candidates included: Esteban Espino running for president, Victoria Aguilar running for vice president and Daniel Villanueva also running for vice president.
Psychology major Justin Bae said he voted because he wanted to have a voice about what happens on campus.
Nursing major Kelly Yin, said she voted because “the person running for treasurer was in my high school and I know she is a good person.”
This year, students only had two days to vote instead of the usual four because the Election Committee was appointed mid-April, Andrew Leon, ASO director of external affairs, said.
According to the ASO By-Laws 700-799, the Election Committee must be appointed three weeks into the semester, in this case, February, to allow sufficient time for the handling of documents.
Leon said that due to the late appointment, the committee only had five weeks to put together campaigning documents that outline candidate guidelines and the election.
However, issues arose during the last ASO meeting on Thursday, May 23 after candidates complained about not being given enough time to sign and handle documents, specifically, an anti-slander one.
The document, known as the “Term’s of Agreements,” emphasized that slander is prohibited after issues arose between candidates during the spring 2018 election.
In a previous article published by The Union, current ASO President Joey Mardesich said the student government rules already prohibit slander so there was no need for the “Terms of Agreement.”
The “Terms of Agreement” were rescinded for the spring 2019 election during the ASO meeting.
The results for the election will be posted on Friday, May 31 outside of the ASO Executive Office, located inside the Student Activities Center.
