Election season has arrived at San Francisco State University, with the Associated Student board of directors officially accepting applications to run for office for the next academic school year. 

Christine Amador, AS senior manager of administration & governance, helps advise and oversee the board of directors and is excited for the upcoming elections.  

“We have a rich culture on this campus of gathering and, you know, labor movements and things of that kind,” Amador said. “My hope is that the incoming board — whoever they may be — taps into that energy.” 

Over 18 positions are available to students, including positions representing SFSU’s seven colleges. All candidates must have received a minimum of a 2.0 GPA at the end of the previous semester. More specific qualifications for individual positions are available on the AS website. 

Students will be able to vote for candidates from April 22 to 28, an extension of the previous five-day voting period. 

“The hope is that through the democratic process, students are able to choose who they want to represent them — on the campus side, but also on the state level, within the [California State University], and then even federal,” Amador said. 

This election will be the third organized by AS elections commissioner Lily Gutierrez, a fourth-year Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts major who took on the position in 2022 when voting was fully online. 

Going into this election, she looks forward to refining the voting process and engaging voters using the knowledge she has gained from the past two election cycles. 

“The people who do come [to candidate sessions] are very interested in running, and they come with questions, and they come excited to learn more about the different positions,” Gutierrez said. “They’re very interested and enthusiastic.” 

Dan Buschmeyer, a junior studying international relations, entered the candidacy information session interested in running for a college representative position but decided to run for another position upon hearing Amador and Gutierrez’s presentation. 

“I’ve been getting involved with the academic senate and the university budget committee, but the academic senate reserves roles for voting membership to Associated Student senators,” Buschmeyer said. “Seeing that a lot of those positions are vacant for student participation in [the] academic senate, it really inspired me to get involved because students need not only representation on those committees and academic senate, but they also deserve a voting position.” 

One area that Amador and Gutierrez want to improve on is increasing turnout from the student body. Amador said that last year, 2,380 out of 22,197 votes were cast — an 11% turnout. Despite the low percentage, SFSU’s turnout was the highest of all California State University student elections, according to Amador. 

“We’re just trying to hit every line of communication that we can. Even if [students are] not interested in running — just letting them know that this is happening, that it exists,” Amador said. “That their opinions matter. What they’re passionate about matters.”

Amador, an SFSU alumna, encourages students striving to affect change on campus to seize the opportunities AS provides. These include additional resources and enhanced access to administration. She also said that the history of students organizing to create the Cesar Chavez Student Center was critical for candidates to understand when getting involved. 

“The stakeholders of the university are first and foremost the students,” Amador said. “Without the students, the university doesn’t function; it does not exist.” 

Applications are due Sunday, March 10, by 5:00 p.m.  The list of eligible candidates will be released on Friday, March 22.