Student Senate voting came to a close Tuesday night, but the race isn’t over yet. Because candidates were unable to receive the majority vote needed to win, more than 50 percent of the votes, the elections for each Student Body Officer position will continue in a run-off.
A total of 1,724 votes were cast on Monday and Tuesday, 33 more votes than the 1,691 votes placed in the 2011 Student Body Officer election.
“[More students] voted this year than the first election last year,” said Election Sub-Committee Chair junior Ethan Zentz. “But I was hoping that more people would vote.”
Junior Alan Bukingolts and senior Ivan Gonzalez-Gimenez will both participate in a run-off for the position of Student Body President. Of the total number of votes placed, a candidate needed 839 votes to win. Burkingolts received 394 votes with Gonzalez close behind with 303 votes.
“I feel confident and I want to thank the supporters who voted for me,” said Burkingolts. “I think this next election will be a lot different and that I will have to work harder to get votes.”
Presidential candidate junior Emily Corona, with 299 votes, lost a spot in the run-off campaign by only five votes.
For the position of vice-president, junior Clint Boone and junior Bailey Miller will compete in a run-off. Boone received 391 votes and Miller received 311 votes.
Freshman Dashawn Cason had the most votes of any individual candidate for any position in the election. For the position of secretary, he received 561 votes of the 771 votes need to win. Junior candidate Daniel Shanley, who received 343 total votes, won a spot in the run-off election for the position.
However, Tuesday night Shanley chose to withdraw his participation in the race. In his place Andrew Puhr, who received 333 votes will be competing in the run-off election.
“Out of all of the candidates that ran, you definitely saw results in polls,” said Cason. “I feel relieved and I am just ready for this next week.”
For the position of treasurer, freshman Rose Wurster received 357 votes and will be competing in a run-off against sophomore Sammy Naman, who received 324 votes.
Of all of the candidates and tickets that participated in the elections, the red ticket, composed of Burkingolts, Cason and Wurster, was the only full ticket to enter run-off elections.
Members of the red ticket said they have a few tricks up their sleeve to help with campaigning for the up-coming election including inviting a vice president to join their ticket and changing their campaigning strategy.
“It’s now a smaller pool,” said Cason. “We are going to have to do more person-to-person campaigning to help people put a face to a name instead of using posters and slogans.”
Senior Emmanuelle Bailey-Greene, a presidential candidate who did not receive enough votes to compete in run-off elections, said she was still happy with the results of the race.
“I wanted to make sure there were a lot of opinions represented [in the election] and I think there were,” she said. “But it was a very ethical campaign and I am looking forward to see the results.”
Run-off elections on MyBU will begin at 8 a.m. on Monday and will conclude at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. Winning candidates will be announced 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on the Olin Quad.
