Sitting at a table with a few of his constituents, Fresno State ag ambassador and third-year animal science major Omar Hernandez cracked a smile as his name was announced as the next ASI president.
“I was really excited,” Hernandez said of his reaction to hearing his name called. “I was honestly really nervous. I put in so much work, so it felt really good.”
Fresno State students gathered in the University Student Union’s Bulldog Zone to hear the announcing of this year’s Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) election results on Thursday afternoon.
As ASI election commissioner Julease Graham read aloud the winning candidates, the crowd cheered their fellow Bulldogs.
Hernandez said that being selected to lead the student government for the next academic year reminded him of his commitment to serving the students and motivated him to work even harder on their behalf.
“It definitely means that I’m doing the right thing, you know, in my opinion, that the students can count on someone,” Hernandez said. “The fact that I have their support makes me want to work so much harder.”
Hernandez won the presidential election by a margin of 207 votes, according to official numbers released on Thursday.
Presidential candidate D’Aun A. Jackson came in second place, G. Belle Vang in third, Christopher RB Rodriguez in fourth and Erik Sanchez Matias in fifth.
In addition to the winning candidates, it was also announced that the referendum to add a new ASI senator at-large position, Senator of Sustainability, was passed.
This announcement was met with cheers from the audience as the referendum passed with 89 percent of the votes, 1701 in total.
The 2019-2020 ASI Elections drew a total of 3,378 votes, 15.01 percent of eligible student voters, according to ASI. This year’s voter turnout was down from the previous year’s election, which drew 21.39 percent of eligible voters.
The new senators and executives will be officially installed in June.
Here are the results of the 2019 ASI Elections. The numbers were provided by ASI as tallied by the League of Women Voters.
Referendum for Senator of Sustainability position: Yes
Yes: 1701 (89%)
No: 221 (11%)
President: Omar H. Hernandez
Vice President of External Affairs: Elizabeth Rocha Zuniga
Vice President of Finance: Kevin James Prill
Jordan College of Ag Sciences and Technology: Jacqueline S. Taylor
College of Arts and Humanities: Vanessa R.C. Brown
Craig School of Business: Ashley C. Olson
Kremen School of Education & Human Development: Matthew R. Martinez
Lyles College of Engineering: Maddie C. Caesar
College of Health and Human Services: Holley A. Estep
College of Science and Mathematics: Mandeep Kaur
College of Social Sciences: Emily J. Rivas
Senators At-Large (Top 11): Andrew L. Skidmore, Fernando R. Garcia, Fidel E. Moreno-Meza, Hisham A. Qutob, Jennifer Mandujano-Belman, Kayleigh R. O’Connor, Kyle Zoldoske, Mandi T. Weberg, Nicholas L. Moore, Piper F. Walker, Ruby V. Muniz