In a tight race, Senator Eboni Brown ’17 and Hannah McKiernan ’17 won the Student Assembly presidential and vice presidential election, taking the top spot with a margin of 39 votes. The election had the second highest voter turnout in the last four years.
Voter turnout for the election was 41.81 percent – a 44.9 percent increase from last year. Out of more than 8800 eligible voters, 3687 participated in the election. Brown and McKiernan won 43 percent of the vote with 1583 total votes. Katherine Ambrose ’17 and Liz Jacob ’17 took 42 percent of the vote with 1542 total votes. The remaining 15 percent went to Justin Canakis ’17 and A.J. Scalia ’17 with 562 votes.
“I’m feeling ecstatic,” Brown said. “I don’t think words can describe this moment, I don’t want to cry, I think we were fortunate enough to have a strong team of supporters around us keeping us motivated and I don’t think I could have picked a better running mate to run with. I’m happy, I can’t really explain it.”
Brown also said that she wanted to thank supporters.
“Thank you for believing in us,” Brown said. “We came in with a platform and we really wanted to make it so that we were reflective of the student body. Thank you for the chance to do that, you won’t regret that. You should be ready and set for one of the wildest, craziest, funniest years of your life.”
Ambrose and Jacob, who came in a second by a margin of one percent, said that they thought one of the most important parts of their campaign was being able to connect different parts of campus.
“I think the most important thing was being able to connect different areas of campus that had never been connected before and seeing different groups of campus that didn’t think they had things in common fight right in with our platform and what we thought was good for the College,” Ambrose said.
I think the most important thing was being able to connect different areas of campus that had never been connected before and seeing different groups of campus that didn’t think they had things in common fight right in with our platform and what we thought was good for the College,” Ambrose said.
Jacob said that she hoped Brown and McKiernan would use their new positions to push the campus forward.
“I would say be bold,” Jacob said. “See the connection and recognize at the end of the day, there is a lot you can do with that power. Take a step back and think about what you can do to push people forward.”
Canakis said he believed Brown ran a phenomenal campaign.
“I think the campus ultimately decides the election,” Canakis said. “I think Eboni ran a phenomenal campaign, and I wish her nothing but the best. I feel she will do a phenomenal job as SA president, and she has the full support of the Canakis Scalia 2016 campaign. SA needs to be united, and A.J. and I fully support the campus’ decision, and we look forward to Eboni leading the way. So, thank you very much. I don’t have any advice for Eboni. She’s a proven senator, and I respect her.”
According to Brown, one of the most important things to her is thanking her competitors for running a good race and being good sports.
“I think first and foremost I definitely think we should thank our competitors because they pushed us very, very hard,” Brown said. “They made us work harder than we ever would have imagined. Before we even raise our hand and take the oath, thank you to the competitors who ran an amazing race.”
I think first and foremost I definitely think we should thank our competitors because they pushed us very, very hard. They made us work harder than we ever would have imagined. Before we even raise our hand and take the oath, thank you to the competitors who ran an amazing race,” Brown said.
McKiernan also said it was very important to appreciate the way the other campaigns raised important issues through their platforms.
“Thank you for keeping us grounded and reaching out to us throughout this week,” McKiernan said. “Everybody ran a really great race and thank you. Thank you for raising really important issues that will inform what we do.”
The class of 2017 race, with 33 percent turnout, elected former senator Emily Thomas ’17 for the Class of 2017 president. Thomas took 65 percent of the vote. J.C. LaRiviere ’17 who ran against Thomas took 35 percent of the vote. The class of 2017 elected incumbent senators Dan Sequeira ’17 and Olivia Camper ’17, as well as E’Driana Berry ’17 and Gaela Normile ’17. Berry took 26 percent of the votes, Camper had 25 percent, and Sequeira took 24 percent.
Running unopposed, incumbent Class of 2018 president Laini Boyd ’18 was reelected with 554 votes. The class of 2018 elected incumbent senators Danny O’Dea ’18, Colleen Heberle ’18, Alaina Shreves ’18 and Annalise Yackow ’18. Overall voter turnout for the class of 2018 was 35.81 percent.
With a voter turnout of 39.53 percent, incumbent Jonah Yesowitz ’19 was reelected for the Class of 2019 president, receiving 70 percent of the vote. His competitor, Emmanuel Ayeni ’19 took 30 percent of the vote. The four incumbent senators Shannon Dutchie ’19, Alexis Payne ’19, Sikander Zakriya ’19 and Brendan Boylan ’19 were reelected. Taylor Brooks ’19 received 15 percent of the vote, and Ben Lambert ’19 took 14 percent of the votes.
3/24/2016 11:52 p.m. An earlier version of this article said that Nathaniel Sutherland ’18 was elected for a position in the SA senate. Sutherland was not elected, incumbent senator Annalise Yackow ’18 was with the highest number of votes for her class.
