USG Electionz: Winnerz, Loserz and Runoffz

By Jodie Mann, Priscila Korb & Beatrice Vantapool

As the academic year draws to a close, the Undergraduate Student Government prepares for a new beginning.

Anna Lubitz, a sophomore biology major and music minor, was elected President by a margin of over 300 votes. Lubitz, who has served as a USG Senator since the Spring of 2011, beat out USG Vice President of Academic Affairs Adil Hussain and Juan Pablo Cordon.

Lubitz, a member of the Seawolves for Change party, received 903 votes, while her competitors did not receive as many votes combined. Hussain earned 612 votes and Cordon 242.

Allen Abraham will serve as Treasurer after narrowly defeating Cyril Kattuppallil. Abraham won with 865 votes, while Kattuppallil received a close 837.

Sophia Marsh and Amanda Cohen, both running unopposed, took the positions of Vice President of Communications and Vice President of Clubs and Organizations respectively. Derek Cope will serve as the new Vice President of Academic Affairs.

This week’s elections also included the vote to make the Student Activity Fee optional for all students. Students voted 1120 to 963 to keep the fee mandatory, ensuring that student clubs will still be able to function for the next two years.

The election for executive vice president and vice president of student life are going to be up for another vote soon in a runoff election, as the candidates running did not receive a majority win of votes cast. Aimee Pomeroy and Jason Sockin will go up against each other for EVP, having knocked Kia Valkonen out of the race. For the VP of Student Life, Patrick Abelein and Nicholas Ela will face-off in another election without Tyrik Jiang on the ballot.

Only about 2,000 students voted in the election over the past four days, despite the online convenience of the voting system through SOLAR.

Some students, such as sophomore biology major Tenzeeila Ali, think this low voting turnout is due to a lack of publicity.

“I didn’t even know it was happening,” said Ali. “I would have voted if I’d realized.”

Syed Karim, a senior biology major, agreed. He felt there was much more the candidates could have done to make students aware.

“People running could’ve been around more,” Karim said. “They could’ve come by lecture halls or something.”

Although the number of students that voted only represented a small percentage of the student body, it was still an increase over the number of students who voted last year.