Christian Thrapp is just happy to be a finalist.ASUSU primary election results were announced Tuesday afternoon, making it clearer to students at USU who their future student leaders will be. Despite amity between candidates overall, the elections have not been without surprises.
In the presidential race between four candidates, the second of the two finalists was decided by the narrowest or margins. Thrapp moved on with 643 votes, besting Smitty Hartley by one vote.
“Turns out every vote does count,” Thrapp said. “My campaign committee worked very hard and I’m just glad to be moving on.”
Hannah Blackburn, who received the most votes of any candidate in the presidential contest, will also be moving on to the final election. Blackburn said she was surprised at the final results.
“I’m honestly surprised by how close it is,” Blackburn said. “I thought going through my whole campaign that Adam Vail was my biggest competitor.”
Elections were not the only cause for candidate elimination this year. Several candidates have dropped out and one was disqualified.
Rhett Wilkinson, former candidate for CHASS senator, was disqualified for failing to meet the audit deadline.
“I didn’t even realize that we had two audits,” Wilkinson said. “I missed the deadline by about an hour. I’m disappointed because my team and I worked so hard on the campaign, only to be disqualified for something so simple.”
Kirsten Frank, current ASUSU executive vice president said though they were sorry to disqualify Wilkinson, the candidates were informed beforehand about correct election procedures.
“There were multiple emails sent out clearly defining the rules and deadlines,” Kirsten Frank said.
The primary election winners were:
Executive Council President: Hannah Blackburn and Christian Thrapp
Executive Vice President: Abigail Kingsford and Ben Wilson
Academic Senate Vice President: Jordan Hunt
Athletics Vice President: Karson Kalian
Diversity and Organizations Vice President: Mariana Ochoa and Tasi Taylor
Programming Vice President: Kellen Hansen and Chaise Warr
Student Advocate: Christian Orr and Anthony T.J. Pratt
Service Vice President: Jeremy Nef and Kyle Niedrich
“I think all the candidates that are going up to the final election are very good, very qualified candidates. The closeness of the presidential race was shocking and it was down to the last seconds. That was crazy,” said Erik Mikkelsen, current ASUSU president. “I’m looking forward to seeing what the candidates come out with tomorrow because they are going to be coming strong.”
Parker Jeppesen, Katie Carter, Victoria Hepworth, Joe Bagnes, Jessica Jolley, Adison Pace, Julia Stock and Matt Skabelund contributed to this report.
No comments:
Post a Comment