What began as friendly competition became a partnership between Kiery Saravia and Alvaro Geminiano Aragon, the future Associated Students (AS) president and vice president. The pair stood before their peers on Thursday, March 27, to share their campaign promises of transparency, student advocacy and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

AS held its annual Meet the Candidates event in preparation for the upcoming election. Currently, 25 candidates are running for positions on the AS Senate, with many running unopposed, including Saravia and Aragon. The AS elections will be held from Tuesday, April 8, to Thursday, April 10.

Positions that face opposition are those of senators for the College of Business & Economics, the College of Arts, Media and Communication, the College of Humanities and the lower division senators.

Aragon initially planned to run against Saravia for AS president, but after Saravia’s original vice president had to withdraw from the campaign, she viewed the loss as an opportunity to unite with her opponent.

Together, the duo formed the slate Matador Voices Matter (MVM) – a political team consisting of 19 candidates, nine of whom are first-generation students.

“This is, to my knowledge, the largest slate we’ve ever had on campus,” said Cesar Rosales, who is running for graduate senior and currently serves as chief justice. According to Rosales, the last record-breaking team he remembers had six members. “So it’s a different caliber that is really only possible due to the effort that, in my opinion, Kiery … has put in to bring us together.”

Saravia explained that she had been planning her run for president since the spring of her sophomore year. Now a junior, she spent the fall semester looking for potential future leaders to join her team.

“According to [Saravia], she was looking at me as a candidate since that day, which is a little frightening because I didn’t even know if I was going here,” said freshman CSUN student Elizabeth Abrams about her first meeting with Saravia. At the time, Abrams was a high school senior attending Matador Day and is currently running for College of Humanities senator.

It was not until the Meet the Candidates event that Saravia and Aragon realized they were running unopposed.

“In some ways…It is very relaxing because then we can shift our campaign’s focus to our senators with opposition,” said Saravia.

One of the independent candidates running outside of the MVM slate is Isaac Gavino, a sophomore Cinema and Television Arts major and current senator for the College of Arts, Media and Communication. Gavino is seeking reelection.

During his time as senator this year, Gavino served on the External Affairs Committee and was involved in passing a resolution, a statement made by AS in support of or against a cause, in support of undocumented students.

Gavino has worked alongside Saravia and Aragon on multiple resolutions and looks forward to the possibility of working closely with them once again.

“While we don’t always 100% align on every single little thing, I do, like I said before, believe they’re truly dedicated to the students,” said Gavino.

In running with a slate, Gavino said there is an expectation that the candidate is running on that team’s values and being able to run as an independent allowed Gavino to form his own four pillars of values reflecting his unique vision for the school – student success, student empowerment and rights and student collaboration and voice.

When asked about his mission for next year, Gavino explained his goals for “fighting for our right to a safe and equitable education, as well as making sure the university is staying true to its values to provide us with that education.”

Although Saravia’s position as president is secure, the candidate expressed her disappointment, wishing that students would be more involved in leadership this year. This lack of involvement is one problem both Saravia and Aragon are determined to solve in the coming year through social media, such as building their CSUN AS Leadership Instagram.

“The whole point of AS is to help uplift student voices and help uplift the next generation of student leaders,” Saravia said. “It’s just making sure our content on socials, especially, is 100% fresh, is 100% consistent, is 100% transparent.”

In the spirit of transparency, Aragon has several ideas he is determined to implement to keep students informed and involved with AS. One of his main goals will be to bring back “Senate in a Minute,” a video segment that informs students on what occurred at each senate meeting in a digestible format.

For the MVM team, keeping students informed will be especially important in the coming year, as budget cuts occur with programs rumored to follow.

“We really want to make sure our students are represented,” Aragon said. “Yes, in all of those external issues, but also in university’s issues. We want classes. We want to make sure that we are giving students enough resources for them to graduate.”

Additionally, accountability is a quality that Saravia and Aragon do not shy away from, stating they encourage students to speak up when campus issues arise.

“I really, really hope that within our administration, students and club leaders go up to us and tell us these things,” Saravia said. “I really would like to know where AS is failing and where AS is doing well.”

According to their website, students will receive an email on election day containing a link to their virtual ballot. More information on candidates can be found on the AS Meet the Candidates page.

According to Gavino, student voter turnout has been low in prior years. He believes that a higher turnout will inspire more students to run in future elections, leading to stronger student representation.

“I would encourage everyone to vote, even if they’re not voting for me or they don’t have the ability to vote for me,” Gavino said. “It’s really important that the student voice is heard.”