Two Downtown students announced their candidacies for student government president Monday, including a former candidate who was disqualified last spring but still received the majority of the vote.
Journalism sophomore Andres Cano and nursing freshman Diana Inzunza will be running as write-in candidates.
Prior to their candidacy declaration, criminal justice sophomore Joseph Grossman was the only presidential contender.
In last year’s election, Cano won the popular vote but was disqualified for accumulating too many election code penalty points. Cano attempted to fight the disqualification but conceded after no third party was able to review the violations since an appeals process was not in place.
The deadline for a candidate’s name to appear on the ballot was March 27, but the deadline for write-in candidates is March 30, said Beth Wischnia, the director of public relations for Downtown student government
Cano said he and his running mate, journalism freshman Brittany Morris, are running in order to create a government that connects to students and listens to their needs.
“Our campaign is about rebuilding trust with Downtown students and that’s going to be our priority throughout next year,” Cano said.
Inzunza said she and her running mate, journalism sophomore Rudy Rivas, feel the Downtown campus has a lot of potential and want to help the Downtown campus grow.
Inzunza said she isn’t worried about being a write-in candidate because her message of “Action, Service, Unity,” will provide students with a government that will help them.
“I feel good that, being a write-in candidate, we will have the same chance as anyone already on the ballot,” Inzunza said.
Cano said he is not worried about the mistakes that occurred last year and cost him the presidency.
“We have completely different issues that we have to deal with and our focus is solely on sharing our platform with the Downtown student body,” he said. “I feel pretty confident that once we’re out talking to students that they are going to support us because of the things we are proposing.”
Reach the reporter at tdmcknig@asu.edu
