Monday, Oct. 9, 932 members of the class of 2021 voted for their class president and four Student Assembly senators. David DeMarco ’21 was elected for the position of class of 2021 president.
Me and my team of friends, we all worked really, really hard,” DeMarco said.
“Me and my team of friends, we all worked really, really hard,” DeMarco said. “I’m just really excited that everyone thinks that my ideas and our ideas are going to make William and Mary better, and I really look forward to working with the entire Student Assembly.”
Winning 22.53 percent of the vote for a total of 210 votes, DeMarco beat out the other five contenders for the role of class president. In comparison, Class of 2020 President Kelsey Vita ’20 won 41 percent of the vote in her firs term for a total of 360 votes, with seven contenders. Class of 2019 President Jonah Yesowitz ’19 ran against eight other students in his first term. He won 27 percent of the vote for a total of 250 votes.
Joining him in the class of 2021’s four seats in SA Senate are Aria Austin ’21, Helen Tariku ’21, Kyle Vasquez ’21 and Jack Simmons ’21.
These four senators were elected out of 11 total contenders for the positions.
Leading the senate candidates, Austin took 13.74 percent of the vote with 468 total votes, Tariku was next with 11.42 percent of the vote with 389 total votes, and Vasquez and Simmons each took 11.06 percent of the vote for a total of 377 votes each.
The senate candidate coming in fifth place was Stephanie Lodico ’21, who did not earn a seat in the senate, taking 9.45 percent of the vote, for a total of 322 votes.
In the special election for the class of 2020, incumbent Sen. Abhi Chadha ’20 was re-elected with 58.02 percent of the vote, for a total of 282 votes. Ryan Walter ’20, his only opponent, took 41.97 percent of the vote for a total of 204 votes.
Two candidates for class president, Basel Osman ’21 and Brighten Meade ’21, failed to submit their campaign expense reports to the Elections Commission by the mandated time, so their candidacies were invalidated. Another class president candidate, Macy Calder ’21, committed a class one elections violation by hanging two flyers on one bulletin board, but will not be fined for this violation.
Welcoming the new members to SA Senate were members of the Elections Commission, chaired by Mallory Powers ’18, as well as SA executive representatives, class presidents and senators. SA President Elijah Levine ’18 and SA Vice President Annelise Yackow ’18 were in attendance at the celebration.
Levine said that he was excited that the first year using TribeLink to vote went well.
I’m excited, obviously because we have new voices in the senate,” Levine said.
“I’m excited, obviously because we have new voices in the senate,” Levine said. “I was initially concerned about how the first round of TribeLink voting was going to go — it definitely worked well. To the extent that I kept up with it, people ran very energetic and well thought through campaigns, and I think that’s going to reflect very well on their class and on what we can do together for the College.”
Vita, who was also in attendance, said she was excited to see new members in the senate.
“I’m just so beyond excited to have new voices in the Student Assembly,” Vita said. “So many freshmen ran amazing campaigns, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they can accomplish this year.”
Newly elected members will attend their first senate meeting Tuesday, Oct. 10.
