The votes are in, and Associated Students has announced its new student officers for the 2014-15 year. Anthony Gallino was declared the new president and Christian George was named executive vice-president Thursday in the Student Center. Out of 8,668 students, 1,288 voted.
“I want to thank all the many individuals that supported me in my candidacy for president,” said Gallino, who won by 61 percent of the vote. “I look forward to continuing my unyielding service to all of the students of Sonoma State in the coming year.”
George won the vice-presidency by a similar margin of 62 percent, and is not only honored to be elected but also to serve the campus community.
“So many people put in a lot of time in helping [with the campaign] and spreading the word,” said George. “It is the greatest honor to have not only just support, but peers advocating and actively helping to get me where I am today.”
George spoke on the many tasks he needs to complete, how he can’t wait to get started and begin using his experience outside of Associated Students to better those at Sonoma State.
Gallino and George won by a significant percentage of the vote, but the race for the position of senator for sustainability was much closer. Incumbent Allison Jenks maintained her title by a 52 percent margin of the vote.
“I’m very honored to have the students vote for me two years in a row,” said Jenks. “I hope to continue with the reduction of plastic on campus, an increase in composting and much more. If any students have ideas for what they would like to see [around campus], I would love to hear them.”
Although he ran unopposed, Adam Rosenkranz is excited to start working as vice-president of finance.
“I intend on helping make [the Associated Students] more of a visible presence on campus by engaging additional students and eliciting their feedback regarding important campus issues.”
The road to victory was not an easy one for the candidates. The election results were originally going to be announced on March 11, but after several technical issues with the electronic voting system, the election was postponed until after Spring Break to insure voting accuracy.
“The circumstances that happened this year were out of our control and something we had not dealt with in previous years,” said Elections Commissioner Angie Ulloa. “Taking [this] into consideration, we did our best to ensure a fair election as to preserve the integrity of elections and Associated Students.”
Ulloa said this has always been the case with how Sonoma State has conducted elections and hopes the tradition continues in the years to follow.
Gallino told the STAR last week the delay could cause voter disenfranchisement and put a damper on the momentum the candidates’ had built-up over the weeks of campaigning. Regardless, both he and George are eager to leave that obstacle behind and begin fulfilling the duties of their new positions.
“For my first act, I plan on engaging the newly elected senate over the rest of this year and the summer in a conversation about what Associated Students’ main goal will be next year so we can begin to work on it as soon as possible,” said Gallino.
“My first action would be to meet with the multiple administrators and faculty members to build a working relationship with them,” said George, “so Associated Students and I can begin to take steps to lay the foundation for a more timely graduation for Sonoma State students.”
Other elected senators include Kian Khatami as senator for community affairs, Cary Yballa as senator for involvement, Luke Tesluk as senator for student services, Cynthia Figueroa as senator for diversity, Matthew Goodwin as senator for undeclared, Tyler Davis as senator for the school of business and economics, Natalie Sampo as senator for the school of social sciences, and Brandon Muela as senator for the school of science and technology.
For more information on Associated Students, visit its pages on the Sonoma State website, Facebook and Twitter.
