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Tim Davis | Northern Star
Alberta Dequin goes over some paperwork while working at one of the SA polling stations in Dusable Hall Wednesday afternoon. “The turnout has been lighter than last year,” said Dequin, who has been a polling attendant for at least 6 years.
Low turnout marks SA, CAB executive elections
Only 681 students voted in Student Association and Campus Activities Board elections for next year’s executives.
Business student-at-large Lonnie Pollard won the CAB presidency with 334 votes, while senior accountancy major Emeka Chike-Obi retained his hold on CAB vice president for Finance. They were the only contested elections in a race that consisted of eight executive positions.
Pollard defeated opponent Amanda Williams, a junior journalism major and CAB vice president for Administration, by 72 votes. Chike-Obi won more handily, defeating senior finance major Idorenyin Udoisa by 121 votes.
The voter turnout was low, something that disappointed Pollard.
“I’m very excited and very happy with the outcome, but I was disappointed with the voter turnout,” Pollard said. “We’re talking a couple of hundred out of 22,000-23,000 students.”
POLLARD WANTS SURVEYS
Pollard said that one of his first actions as CAB president will be to institute a survey system.
“I want to get more input from a more realistic [poll, from the] student body as a whole,” Pollard said. “Some of the artists coming to town aren’t representative of the student body, and I feel the surveys would show that.”
Pollard praised Williams as a formidable opponent, adding that he would be open to sharing ideas and feedback with her. Williams did not comment on a possible idea swap with Pollard.
“I have gone through a lot in these past couple of days. I was unopposed and found out he was running against me on Election Day,” Williams said. “It’s been a lot of ups and downs.”
Williams was initially running unopposed. However, Pollard explained that his candidacy was on appeal to the SA Board of Elections. The decision to add him to the ballot was made Monday, one day before the election.
KELLER WINS UNOPPOSED
Mass transit director Brent Keller won the SA presidency with 548 votes, even though none of the SA executive elections were contested.
According to the Northern Star archives, 1,020 students voted in last spring’s executive election. SA election commissioner Sarah Roman said she expected a low turnout.
“It wasn’t as competitive as a ballot, and I think this semester, people had other things on their minds,” Roman said, referencing the Feb. 14 tragedy.
It was because of the low competition and the tragedy that Roman did not push for re-scheduling a debate between the SA executives. In Article 6, Section 5, Part E of the SA’s bylaws regarding election policy, one of the duties of the SA election commissioner is to hold an executive candidate debate one week before the first day of the spring elections.
Roman said the debate was initially scheduled for the week of Feb. 25-29. However, after the shooting, Roman had a discussion with current SA president Jarvis Purnell regarding the debate.
“We felt that holding a debate the week after we came back, we felt it was in bad taste,” Roman said. The lack of a competitive ballot also didn’t create “a push for it.”
The Student Association Senate meets Sunday at 6 p.m. in the Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center.
» Next Campus Article: Campus Notes: Thursday, March 27