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Friday, 02 March 2012 04:37

Two SG presidential candidates on top, to compete further next week Featured

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March 1 marked the closing of polls for student body presidential elections. Four candidates are finished campaigning, but two will continue competing head to head for the title of University of South Florida student body president.

The SG Elections Results Party started out with a dull hum at 8 p.m., but as the night progressed with free pizza and the promise of the all-important announcement, MSC 3707 began to swell with students.

James Bodden, the supervisor of elections, commanded attention of the awaiting crowd at 9 p.m. Students cheered and celebrated as he listed the new members SG Senate. A list is included below.

Bodden joked, "And now what you're all here for. The Our Shirt results!" He announced the first design won by a slim margin. Both referendums, regarding the Real Food USF referendum, received an overwhelming 93 percent approval.

Finally, candidates were listed in order of votes received, from least to most. Alan Ethington came in sixth, Omar Rodriguez in fifth, Christopher Cano in fourth and Christina Hughes in third.

That leaves Sarah Pollei, with 26 percent of votes, and Brian Goff, with 29 percent of votes, as the top two. Because no candidate received more than 50 percent of votes, a runoff election is needed. Voting will open March 6 at 8 a.m. and close March 7 at 8 p.m. The winner will be annunced March 7 and 9 p.m. Goff and Pollei were given clearance to start campaigning after the announcement was made.

"I had an inkling there would be a runoff," Pollei said.

This year, 7,231 students voted for student body president, the most ever recorded for USF. For the Our Shirt design, 7,701 students, 470 from satellite campuses, voted.

Goff said he was pleasantly surprised. "I like to keep a level head," he said. "We weren't anticipating 29 percent." That comes to 2,097 students who voted for Goff and his running mate, George Papadeas.

"We'll go out and do it over again," Goff said. He plans to reach out to student organizations and ask for support from the other candidates, wanting to make sure their voices are still heard.

"I am very excited," Pollei said. "My team has been very dedicated, and all of our efforts have paid off."

Pollei plans on "pushing through and working harder" with running mate Antonio Morales to grab the title of president and vice president.

Current USF student body president, Matt Diaz, said he is excited as well.

"The students have spoken," Diaz said. "Regardless of who wins, they're gonna get a darn good president and vice president."

 

Unofficial 2012 SG General Election Winners List:

Public Health

Cha-Kara Parkman-Wimberly
Anita Ramdhani

Nursing

Janelle Ikan
Danielle Steele

Medicine

Melody Bernstein

Engineering

Sarita Malhan
John Koutsoyannis
Jeff Gao
Johnathon Espinoza
Cesar Castenada
Saleem Ackbar

Business

Fatima Somarriba
Shelomo Solson
Sara Solis
Brooke DiSalvo
Christina Devivo
Matthew Casey
Anson Angail
Ben Agosto
Jeffery Fowler

Behavioral

Kelly Wright
Lindsay Shelton
Peter Nguyen
Natalie Doreus

Education

Philip Siniscalco
Lindsay Rustan
Karen Keenan
Greg Berkowitz

Arts and Sciences

Scott Sandoval
Adam Aldridge
Maria Garcia
Abdool Aziz
Ramy Mitwalli
Liliana Ibarra
Tam Tran
Brandon Hartmann
Nicholas Conde
Logan Landgrebe
Jacqueline Arbelaez
Gaetano D'Anna
Ahanna Jose
Brandon Cook
Zein Kattih
Amina Spahic
Syed Hassan
Jean Coco
Ali Antar
Hakeem Yousef
Summer Gawish
Shyam Patel
Nathan Fox
Daniel Hamilton
Laura Ray
Ibrahim Rahman

Read 1126 times Last modified on Wednesday, 11 April 2012 21:13