Reimer wins AS president's race
By NYRIE KARKAZIAN
Jennifer Reimer was announced as the 2005-2006 Associated Students president-elect
Thursday night.
Reimer was elected Wednesday and Thursday in the campuswide election.
AS president-elect Jennifer Reimer gets a congratulatory hug from
opponent Vianey Nunez after the presidential results were announced
Thursday. Photo by Joseph Hollak |
By the end of the counting, the vote tally read Reimer 560, Nunez 463
as the two candidates shook hands and hugged in congratulations.
“I am very excited to start serving the students at Fresno State
University,” Reimer said.
Reimer let out a sigh of relief and smiled modestly as others commended
her victory. Her term as president will officially begin June 1, when
a meeting will be held to discuss the procedures and plans for the upcoming
year.
“I’m not really a big reaction girl. It’s more internal,”
said Reimer.
Vianey Nunez, Reimer’s opponent, said she has seen Reimer in action
as this year’s AS vice president of finance, and she has done a
good job. Nunez also said she was happy with the efforts put forward by
both of their campaigns and said they brought a lot of important issues
to the table, such as diversity.
Both candidates spoke of diversity among the students and how to create
more interest in student activities around campus. Nunez’s plan
was to promote diversity, not just support it. Reimer will take a different
approach as president by using an all-campus approach to reach the students,
as she said in the presidential debate last week.
Nunez said that as long as the issues had been brought up and are met,
she will be happy.
“I feel glad about that,” Nunez said. “It is an accomplishment
in itself.”
Esmeralda Santos got 152 write-in votes to win the vice president of finance
race, for which no candidate was listed.
 The
ballots for the election went through an intricate security process when
being transferred during the election. The ballots were counted and entrusted
to the League of Women Voters, the group in charge of this process. Michelle
Melikian, an election commission member, said the purpose of having the
League oversee the process is to avoid any conflict of interest because
they have no ties to any of the candidates.
AS adviser Gary Nelson said Wednesday’s ballots were taken out of
the ballot boxes and put into sealed envelopes that were signed by the
League after the polls were closed. They were then kept under university
police care overnight.
Former city council candidate Michael Karbassi received the highest votes
for senator at-large with 428.
Others elected as senators at-large were Megan Jacobsen, Alondra Flores,
Juan P. Moncayo, Rocio Carbajal and Victor Leon. The election commission
confirmed John Migliazzo’s election as the seventh senator at-large
after a recount.
“My biggest thing is to get the word out to students so they know
that their money is being spent wisely,” Karbassi said. “This
is a sincere approach to leadership.”
Unofficial results for the colleges and school senator elections are as
follows:
•Social Sciences: Isaac Lopez
•Science and Mathematics: Melissa Gushiken
•Education: Katie Yeffa
•English: Steve Delsid
•Business: Brent Hansen
•Health and Human Services: Luis Baez
•Arts and Humanities: April-Joy Pascua
•A tie has been called for the position of Agriculture Sciences
Senator between Nicole Richardson and Kelly Ansaldo. Although recounts
can still be requested after the results are posted, in this case the
winner will be determined by a vote cast by the current Associated Student
Senate.
Hansen, the current AS executive vice president, said he was excited by
his win.
“I’m happy that I got a victory under my belt,” Hansen
said. “I campaigned quite a bit in my school and it paid off.”
The number of voters this year was about 1,100 — a significant drop
from last year’s vote total of more than 1,800.
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