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Despite the low participation among student candidates and voters in the Associated Students Inc. election last year, the start of the school year may introduce a shift in trend.

Not only did the majority of candidates run unopposed last year, but the positions for director of education and director of undeclared were never filled. Along with these two positions, two more have opened up this year.

The positions for director of natural sciences and mathematics and graduate director are vacant once again due to the ineligibility of sophomore chemistry major Ramon Yepez and graduate student Aaron Pina, as determined by the office of Student Affairs. Yepez and Pina were elected during last year’s election, but were unable to begin their term with ASI.

The turnout of candidates wasn’t the only low outcome-less than six percent of the student population voted during the election.

ASI Director of Arts and Letters Felix Barba said he is confident the shift in ASI members will be a smooth transition under the leadership of ASI President and senior English major Christina Romero.

“I put trust in the president that she’ll choose qualified candidates,” Barba said.

There are four vacant board of director positions waiting to be filled; however, this time around, there are four hopeful people waiting to step into these roles.

It is the ASI president’s job to interview potential candidates and determine who is best suited for the position. Once a candidate has been deemed qualified, the president recommends the applicant to the ASI board of directors. There must be a 2/3 majority vote from the board before the candidate is officially a board member.

After Romero was informed of the vacant positions, she began accepting applicationsfrom potential candidates. She felt accepting board applications would be the best possible method of action to follow, as it provided more students an opportunity to become involved in ASI.

The application process is now closed and there are four individuals waiting to be voted on as official board members-graduate student Jensen Kyle for graduate director, sophomore Shadi Karajeh for director of Undeclared, senior Jessica Dooley for director of Education and sophomore Fely Sita-Makaba for director of natural sciences and mathematics.

Applicants must be majors in the position they apply for, due to the emphasis they must put on those within their colleges.

Directors need a full understanding of their subject in order to properly represent their constituents.

“We are looking for passionate teammates. We came to run, because we are passionate about service and we want to maintain our high level of commitment to the student body,” Romero said.

“We value students’ participation, we always want to see higher student involvement on-campus,” said Pat Worley, ASI executive director.

Junior Kyle Renny said ASI is doing a good job.

“Change needs to be made in order to move in a forward direction and they’re doing the best job possible,” Renny said.

Another student, senior criminal justice major Andrew Meredith, also said ASI is doing a profound job as an organization.

“They’re good about keeping up with all of the other clubs and getting students involved,” Meredith said.

If there are still board vacancies prior to an election, strict procedures must be followed as outlined in the ASI bylaws. It is up to the ASI President to determine whether to accept more applications for the empty positions or to appoint someone already involved with ASI.

Some of this year’s ASI goals include improving overall accountability and increasing transparency of the organization.

The ASI board of directors will vote on the candidates to fill the vacant positions on Sept. 19 in the University Union’s Foothill Suite at 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Students are invited to attend for public comment and seats will be provided.

Amber Kantner can be reached at [email protected].