With the ASG Elections over, Malik Spence, current and future president of ASG, reflects on the dismal number of votes casted in the election and his “learning experience” he had this year as president.
Spence felt the election “could have been better” and has since developed a strategy for the future of ASG elections.
Also voted on in the Election was one of the 14 positions of Senator. Amber Bancroft was elected into the position and will begin her term in the fall of 2016.
“The only way we’re going to improve voter turnout, starting from now on and through the summer, is advertising ASG as much as we can,” Spence said. Voter turnout for the 2016 ASG Elections was less than 50 student voters out of 30,000 Palomar students.
As far as the changes in store for students next year, Spence said he plans on providing more advocacy for Palomar Students, a resolution he created while at the Student Senate for California Community Colleges.
“I want to get Palomar students more involved, a lot more interaction so the student government isn’t just some group that makes decisions,” Spence said. This is a plan that Spence will be working toward throughout the summer.
Students at Palomar in the fall of 2016 should be expecting “a lot more face-to-face,” Spence said. He wants students to know that ASG is active on campus. “And we’re going to be making sure that people know we’re out here and that we’re here if they have any questions or concerns,” Spence said.
A bill that was recently passed banning students from smoking on campus in 2018 has specifically caught Spence’s attention.
“We will still fight for equality as far as smoking on campus goes. If anything is going to be affecting students, then it should also affect staff and faculty equally,” Spence said. He wants to eliminate “backroom deals”, or deals that would be made without the knowledge of Palomar students, in the near future.
Besides Spence, the ASG Election was also held to vote for a Vice President for the 2016 and 2017 school year. Since no candidates were running, the current Vice President, Phoenix Prefontaine, will serve until the fall of next year. At that point, a different election process will take place.
“The vice president will be chosen through board elections. So any of the senators coming into the fall 2016 semester will be eligible to self nominate or nominate someone else for the VP position,” Spence said.
Spence’s student goals for next year are relative to the issues plaguing ASG right now.
“Making sure that we get participation up and increase visibility of the student government overall,” Spence said. He also added, “putting out as many events as we can that will let people know that they have a student government and that they have a voice that they can interact with on campus.”
When asked if there was anything that students should know about him, Spence reiterated his goal for student involvement. “Students can come to me with any concerns that they have,” Spence said, “Honestly, a leader that you can’t talk to doesn’t seem like a good leader at all because you cant make any suggestions. So I want them to know that I’m available.”
“My office is always open,” Spence concluded.
