DAILY LOBO new mexico
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thursday November 14, 2013
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‘Team You for ASUNM’ dominates elections by Chloe Henson
assistant-news@dailylobo.com @ChloeHenson5 The “Team You for ASUNM” slate dominated Wednesday’s elections for the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico senate. Eight of the 10 senators who were elected for a full senatorial term ran with Team You. Lyndsay Stapleton, who also ran with Team You, picked up a half term. Sen. Rachel Williams and Sen. Grace Liu, both incumbents, were the only members of the “Aspire for ASUNM” slate elected. Sen.-elect Kaitlyn Loafman, a sophomore majoring in elementary education, earned 730 votes out of the 1,705 cast, the highest of the 22 candidates. Loafman said she was ecstatic to be elected. “I don’t know how to even describe it,” she said. “I’m in shock, and I feel so blessed and thankful … It’s amazing.” Now that she has been elected, Loafman said she is ready to take on her work as a senator. “I just look forward to working with everybody and working for ASUNM and making a difference and helping students on campus,” she said. Loafman said the support she has from family and friends
contributed to her victory. “I had a lot of support through all my friends that I have on campus and my sisters,” she said. “My slate is great. We worked hard and we never gave up.” Loafman said she is grateful for the student body for helping her win a seat in the senate. “I’m so glad for everyone that voted, and I hope that I can help you guys in every single way,” she said. “Thank you so much.” Williams, who earned 677 votes, the most of any Aspire candidate, said the election results were a reflection of the slate’s campaign. “It’s really a testament to campaign day,” she said. “It really is how well you can get out there and campaign. Aspire for ASUNM maybe didn’t campaign as hard as the other slate, and so I think that’s what we’re seeing today.” Williams was first elected to the senate in the fall semester of last year. She served as chair of ASUNM’s Finance Committee. Williams said that for her next term as senator, she plans on continuing the projects she worked on during her last term. “I’ll be applying for finance chair next semester and really pushing what I’ve already been working on, like transparency,” she said. Though most of the Aspire candidates did not get elected, Williams said she will continue
Voter turnout way up this cycle by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com @ArdeeTheJourno
Wednesday’s voter turnout for the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico senate election broke records. According to data from ASUNM’s Elections Commission, 1,705 students cast their ballots in this semester’s elections. This is the highest number of voter turnout of any fall-semester election since 2005.
Voter turnout amounted to 1,433 students during the fall 2011 elections. The number dipped during last fall’s elections, when 1,058 students showed up to vote. ASUNM Elections Commission Executive Director Malika Ladha said the eight-year high was due to the strenuous efforts and the campaign strategies of the 22 candidates who ran for senate seats this semester. “The candidates that we had in this election were really great,” she said. “It honestly comes down to how
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Ruby Santos /@ruby_m_santos/ Daily Lobo UNM sophomore Kaitlyn Loafman said she was ecstatic and in shock during the announcement of her win last night in the Student Union Building. Loafman received 730 votes, the highest of all ASUNM candidates. to work with the slate. “I want to continue working with Aspire for ASUNM because they have really great ideas,” she said. “So I’ll keep collaborating with them. Even though they didn’t
get elected, we’ll still be working as a team.” Williams said she wasn’t sure if Aspire would run again in the spring’s ASUNM presidential elections.
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“I can’t speak for all of them,” she said. “But they’re all really outstanding individuals. I really hope that they do. And I expect them to stay involved in ASUNM. And I’m sure they will.”
Candidate
Slate
Result
Kaitlyn Loafman
Team You
730
Elected
Ayham Maadi
Team You
703
Elected
Rachel Williams*
Aspire
677
Elected
Samuel Greenblatt
Team You
675
Elected
Shayla King
Team You
662
Elected
Colt Balok*
Team You
662
Elected
Grace Lui*
Aspire
654
Elected
Derick Moreno
Team You
648
Elected
Lester Garcia
Team You
627
Elected
Katelynn Thorton
Team You
621
Elected
Lyndsay Stapleton
Team You
617
Elected
*Incumbent hard they work on the day of elections and how hard they work prior to elections … It’s about how long you stay out there from eight in the morning until seven at night. They were there until the last minute.” Ladha said she also attributes a “very tiny” part of this election cycle’s success to ASUNM agencies’ outreach efforts and social media presence. ASUNM President Isaac Romero said that because there were two slates and two independent candidates who ran for office, this semester’s campaign became “very competitive, which drives elections and drives votes.” He also commends the Elections Commission for the high turnout. Romero said the high turnout reflects UNM students’ increasing involvement with campus affairs.
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“It makes me excited because more and more people are getting involved in it,” he said. “More people are learning what to get involved in and how. So, I think it can only go up from here. That’s how I’d like to see it.” And student involvement is largely beneficial for UNM, Romero said. “Student involvement is crucial to the University,” he said. “Student involvement is what drives me … to represent students because we have our opinions of what we would like to see, but often, we need to hear from students about what they want to see and how we can address their concerns.” Romero said he expects reelected incumbents to aid newcomers in the ASUNM senate. He said he also commends the energy of the first-time senators and that he is optimistic that the new sena-
torial line up will get things done. Ladha said that although the turnout was not a majority of UNM students, she is glad about it. “Is the election turnout where we want it to be? No,” she said. “Are we in the right direction? Of course … I think it’s not where we want it to be, but can we do better in the spring? Of course we can.” And she said she is optimistic that student voter turnout would increase in subsequent election cycles. She said her commission will especially work on increasing turnout for the spring’s ASUNM presidential elections. “We’re going to do better than that,” she said. “We’re going to crush this. We’re going to get everyone riled up.”
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