SAN MARCOS: Palomar College students elect new student government president

Palomar College student Evelyn Lucero won a special election for president of the college's Associated Student Government last month, narrowly beating her competitor, Alberto Nunez.

Lucero earned 227 votes, while Nunez received 221 votes, said student senator Rocky Brady, chairman of the special election committee.

"I'm really, really happy about it, and I'm excited to work with the students one more year," said Lucero, 21, a computer science major.

The ASG held the special election from Sept. 19 to 22 at Nunez's request, after canceling a spring election amid complaints of missing paperwork and botched procedures.

Nunez, 31, who squared off against Lucero last spring, was disqualified then for failing to submit campaign receipts on time, student officials said.

The single-candidate election was then nullified after students complained that student senators didn't properly handle Nunez's disqualification.

To address those concerns, the ASG scheduled the special election for the fall, and set up a special election committee to fine-tune rules for that vote.

A third candidate, sociology student Armando Telles, 31, entered that race, but was later disqualified for failure to submit campaign material to the Office of Student Affairs on time.

Telles said he felt there was a discrepancy between the special election code and the rules set up to implement it. He said he should not have lost his place in the race over the late filing.

"I feel that requirements exist for a reason," he said.

However, "to be disqualified on such a technicality, I feel was unjust."

Brady said he hated to disqualify a candidate, but said the rules exist to keep candidates from gaining unfair advantage in the elections.

"If we don't make those rules, we'll just get run over," he said. "And we can't allow that. It's just not healthy for the institution."

The election restored the roster of the ASG, which started out the year with its presidential seat and most senator positions vacant.

Lucero said that as president, she will try to increase communication between the ASG, the student body and various clubs by appearing at campus events and holding outdoor office hours where students can express their interests.

"The ASG cannot really work without talking to students about what their concerns are," Lucero said.

The ASG helped enact the recent campuswide smoking ban and introduced textbook rentals. It has also lobbied the state against funding cuts and fee hikes, and petitioned Washington legislators to preserve federal Pell Grants.

Students voted online via balloting software, and officials then validated the student identification numbers of those who voted, double-checking any that were uncertain.

Brady said Nunez requested a recount of the close election, but enrollment records confirmed the count.

"It was so close that it was really only natural that they would request a recount," he said. "We went through the results the first time with a fine-tooth comb to ensure that every vote was put in that needed to be put in."


