A mere 20 votes allowed Alex Wright and running mate Sara Kaminski to squeak by candidates Jeff Nolish and Dan Burke to take this year’s election for president and vice president of the Undergraduate Student Government.
More than 50 people gathered in front of the Union Friday to hear the election results.
The announcement brought both surprise and relief to Wright.
“Twenty votes. That’s a little slimmer than I thought it would be but I’m very excited, very happy and just thrilled,” Wright said. “I am relieved that it’s over. It’s a long campaign and I’m certainly very excited that it ended in my favor.”
Unable to beat last year’s total of 1,586 votes, this year’s election yielded a total of 1,200. Out of this number 1,191 voted for president.
Stacy Blade and Jack Pence received 67 votes, Nolish and Burke received 552 votes and Wright and Kaminski received 572.
Disappointed with the results, presidential candidate Jeff Nolish doesn’t feel that Wright and Kaminski have what it takes to make changes that count at the University.
“I think Alex and Sara have the same potential in leading, I just don’t think it’s their time,” he said. “I think one ticket made this election and I think another ticket won it.”
But according to Nolish, he along with running mate Dan Burke, can’t be disappointed with their campaigning efforts.
“I think Dan and I gave it all we could,” he said. “We didn’t eat enough, we didn’t sleep enough–we put everything we had into the campaign. When you give it all you have, you can’t be upset at that effort.”
Current USG President Josh Kontak, was on site to hear the results. Endorsing the Wright/Kaminski ticket, Kontak feels they have what it takes to get the job done.
“I have a lot of confidence in the ability of Alex and Sara to run an effective administration,” he said.
Wright and Kaminski take office today, being sworn in just before tonight’s USG banquet.
But rest isn’t on the docket for the president-elect.
“I’m going to talk to the current USG president for the next three days,” Wright said after Friday’s announcement. “I’m going to sit down with our USG advisors and the current administration with some transitional meetings and I’m going to start working for the student body as soon as I can.”
According to Kaminski, the duo plan to get in touch with student organizations right away and also want to begin focusing on voter registration.
But Kaminski can’t help but enjoy their success for a moment before going to work for the University once again as USG vice president.
“Winning is a great feeling, we put a lot of hard work into the past three weeks,” she said.
