Spring 2026 ASU election results

Emma Shanakian wins ASU presidency as student voting participation rises significantly from last year.

By: Rosemary Villalonga, News Editor

Emma Shanakian was elected as ASU president to serve during the 2026-2027 school year joined by the newly elected board which includes Vice President Mitka Delgado, Chief of Justice Samantha Gomez and Treasurer Robert Lazaryan, in an election that had over 600 total votes.  

Other elected  positions include Benjamin Ramirez as commissioner of health and wellness affairs, Valerie Ramirez as commissioner of student life, Leilani Pichardo as commissioner of political affairs, Eric Shanakian as commissioner of campus and environmental affairs, and Chelsea Aviador as commissioner of fine arts.

Emma Shanakian, who will serve as the ASU president, is the commissioner of publicity and social media for the current school year. “I want to implement tabling events and post updates on ASU communication channels,” she said during her candidate speech. “Also helping clubs with promotion through ASU platforms and building awareness around the ASO fee.”

After a week of online voting that ended earlier this month these results display who Valley students decided will represent them. The vice president, chief of justice treasurer, and all commissioners ran unopposed and won in their respective roles, with each candidate having over 90 percent of votes in their favor. 

Election results were announced on May 8, in person at the Skybox Conference Room and through Zoom. Students are also able to see the elected members through the ASU Instagram page and school website. 

Sixty-seven percent of those who cast a ballot voted for Emma Shanakian as ASU president putting her in the lead against her opponent Alina Laaly. 

Voter turnout for this election included 669 total online ballots cast. A total of 662 voted in the presidential election. This is over a 50 percent increase from last year’s presidential voting which had 419 voters. 

“This year’s board was definitely really passionate about promoting elections,” said Emma Shanakian. “What I think helped the most was definitely the tabling we would do, which essentially means we would set up a table and have iPads out for students to vote and we provided free snacks for students who stopped by.”

This year’s voting also significantly surpassed the election of the 2024-2025 school year which had 457 ballots cast for the presidential race and the 2023-2024 election which had 238. 

The newly elected ASU board will officially begin serving in July, when members will begin voicing Valley students in their interests and planning initiatives for the upcoming academic year. 

“To continue to increase votes tabling is so important but also canvassing across campus. Reaching out to different programs such as athletics, umoja, mesa, unity center and more,” said Emma Shanakian. “Sometimes all you need to do is go knocking on classes and say your pitch.”