By Stephanie Garibay
The Associated Student Union is holding elections for the 2016-17 student government in front of the swim stadium, where candidates campaigned to students passing by.
The elections started yesterday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will continue today and the same time. Students who are ASU member and non-ASU members are eligible to vote.
“There has been a lot of people voting, our box here with all the ballots is more than halfway full now,” Vanessa Diaz, the current Commissioner of communications, said.
The ballots included statements from each candidate that voters could read upon making their decision.
“Reading those statements actually helped. I think it helped match their face to their personality. I don’t know any of the people running so it helped me figure out who I should vote for,” Maria Gardena, ELAC student, said.
Gardena, who is a first year student, was voting for the first time.“I was just walking by and thought ‘okay why not’,” Gardena said.
Some candidates campaigned in front of the swim stadium the whole day and skipped class.
“I skipped class to be here, but I’m not worried because I got an A on my midterm so I know I’m at least passing that class,” Henry Jimenez, candidate for treasurer, said.
Jimenez is currently the president of the accounting club and hopes to become treasurer.
“I actually went to downtown and bought a lot of candy and a Donald Trump pinata. I feel like the Donald Trump pinata represents us, the minority and who we stand for. We stand against him, we stand against the white people. They stand against us and we are no longer the minority, we are now the majority in California,” Jimenez said.
Jimenez believes his experience with the accounting club will make him a great candidate.
“Because of my experience I know how to communicate with students and since I have met a lot of different students I know what we need to work on and what our funding needs to be going to. I feel like I would save the campus a lot of money,” Jimenez said.
If Jimenez becomes treasurer he hopes to make the communication between students and ASU stronger.
There are currently four candidates running for ASU president and Aurora Paredes is the only girl.
“I feel like Hillary Clinton with Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, it’s tough out there,” said Paredes.
Paredes is currently the chief of justice. This will be her second year in ASU if she becomes elected.
“When I first started with ASU I had no knowledge of how it worked, but over time I started to see ok this is how you do this, this is what I need,” Paredes said.
One of Paredes’ goals if she becomes president is to make sure the voice of the south gate students is heard.
“We just extended the library hours for the main campus, but what about the students at south gate. Their library closes at 7 pm and I always see students on the floor in hallways. We need to make sure their voice is being heard as well,” Parades said.
Parades also hopes to start a food bank if she does become elected.
“I’m here all day and sometimes I have noticed that some students don’t have food, so I do want to work on building a food bank. Just a place where students can come and grab snacks,” Parades said.
Candidates will be notified if they were elected via email in two weeks and the winners will be posted around campus.