Election Results: Associated Students

After two weeks of furious campaigning, fraught with controversy and scandal, the 2018 Associated Students election has come to an end. The slate "Step Forward" performed excellently, winning seven of the eight seats in which they ran a candidate, most of which were contested.

Step Forward secured all three of the positions that A.S. faculty adviser Dr. Nancy Grass said were arguably the most important on the board; the seats of President, Student Trustee, and Director of Budget Management, which were secured by Isabel Rodriguez, Charlene Alex-Boyd, and Maria Damian respectively.

"Step Forward" candidate and incumbent Director of Sustainability Alexa Benavente claimed victory in the four-way race for Director of Student Advocacy by securing 43-percent of the vote. Step Forward's final victory of the election was for the position of Director of Publicity, which Cathy Phung won by a convincing margin of over 500 votes, garnering 69-percent of ballots cast.

Kimberly Hernandez and Carlos Ortega, who both ran unopposed for Step Forward, will take up the positions of Director of Student Assistance and Director of Student Outreach respectively.

Though Step Forward performed well in the election, Transparency, Interdependency, and Equity (TIE) candidate Itzchak "Isaac" Maghen beat out Step Forward's Gema Ceron for the position of Secretary by a margin of 7-percent.

Running unopposed were TIE candidates Hasham Jarmakani and Joseph "Joe" Kolko, who respectively secured the positions of Vice President and Director of Sustainability.

Other candidates who ran unopposed were Chi Yuen Sham, who will be assuming the position of Director of Community Relations, and Suhey Avila for the Director of Activities seat.