Associated Students presidential and senate hopefuls introduced themselves to CSUN students on Tuesday during the Meet the Candidates event at the Plaza Del Sol as next week’s elections loom on the horizon.

Tuesday’s ceremony started the public campaigning efforts of the two slates that are aiming to seize their respective positions in the AS on the election days, which take place on April 8 and 9.

Incumbent president Adam Haverstock, vice presidental candidate Alex Shahin and the eight others running for seats in the AS senate, who make up the “Students First” ticket, are running against current AS senator, Miguel Segura, vice presidential candidate and senator of social and behavioral sciences, and the other 10 members of their 12-person ticket, E3, which stands for Educate-Empower-Enhance.

Seven members of the E3 ticket, including Segura and Umali, and four members of the Students First ticket addressed the crowd about issues and problems they would like to alleviate if they win the election.

“There are so many things that students can do and change at CSUN, ultimately becoming a force on campus, and nobody realizes it,” said Umali, when addressing the crowd about educating the student body on how they can make a positive impact on campus, one of the main points of their platform.

“Educating the students is an important goal of mine. By providing the students opportunities to get involved and the resources to help them enhance their own lives, I believe that the CSUN experience will enhance them as well,” said Umali.

Segura kept his address to the audience in attendance brief, introducing himself, then saying, “We know that we can make a difference here on campus because we are involved and we have the diversity on our slate when it comes to organizations and ethnicities.”

The additional members of each slate who spoke to the crowd were Stephanie Barahona from E3 and Ashley Danielle Weber from Students First, who are running for the senators of Humanities seat, Students First’s Vianney Moran and E3’s Jessper Maquindang, who are going up against each other for Upper Division Senator, Josh Foster for senator At Large and Conar Lansdale for Lower division senator on the Students First ticket, and Arts, Media and Communications senator hopeful Jeanette Guaman, Social and Behavioral sciences senator candidate Ivan Aguilera, and Luis Carbajo, running for Engineering and Computer Sciences senator, all three on the E3 slate. The senatorial candidates spoke for one-to-two minutes about an issue they felt needed immediate addressing, ranging from the lack of parking to tuition increases.

Although initially in attendance, Haverstock and Shahin did not address the public during the event.

“I didn’t speak at the [Meet the Candidates] event because it wasn’t the appropriate forum for me to speak at. That is what the debate is for,” said Haverstock.