Updated 9:42 p.m., Feb. 24
Calen Angert (MSB ’11) and Jason Kluger (MSB ’11) have been re-elected as Georgetown University Student Association president and vice president, respectively, after winning the majority of the student body vote.
“We are ecstatic and really happy to have pulled it out,” Angert said. “I think we’re ready to start new initiatives and continue what we started last term.”
Angert and Kluger received 1,547 votes, 50.08 percent, after the first round. According to the Election Commission, they needed to receive at least 1,545.5 votes to win. While they reached this threshold, the commission decided to hold an instant runoff and move the results to round two because of the close majority in round one. In the second round, the pair received 50.6 percent of the vote. Instant runoff voting is used when voters are asked to rank candidates in order of preference, as they were in this year’s GUSA presidential election.
“It was not necessary to run [the votes] again. We decided to run the results for round two since the margin of victory was less than two votes in round one. They very much won in round one, however,” Adam Giansiracusa (SFS ’12) of the Election Commission said.
Matt Wagner (SFS ’11) and Emmanuel Hampton (COL ’11) came in second place, winning 35.9 percent of the votes in round one and 36.2 percent of the votes in round two.
“We would have liked to win but we’re both extremely pleased with the way our campaign went. We don’t think we could have done any more or any differently than what we did,” Wagner said.
Wagner also stated that he was glad that many important issues were brought to light during the campaigning process.
“We are happy that it was a competitive race where the issues really had to be hashed out,” Wagner said. “We’re happy that we brought the finance issue up for public debate.”
Arman Ismail (COL ’11) and Tucker Stafford (COL ’12) received 8.1 percent of the votes in round one and 8.2 percent of the votes in round two. Hillary Dang (SFS ’12) and Katie Balloch (COL ’12) received 4.8 percent of the votes in round one and 4.9 percent of the votes in round two.
Drawing on their experiences from last term, Angert and Kluger are ready to continue their roles as the head of the GUSA Executive.
“We’ll hit the ground running to start to work on initiatives such as Zipcars and to get ready for the Budget Summit,” Angert said.
According to Angert, first priorities will also include appointing members of their executive board.
One of the most contentious issues in this year’s elections was the new club funding reform legislation passed by the senate earlier this month under Angert and Kluger’s administration. Wagner and Hampton strongly opposed the legislation and argued the new system would not properly represent student clubs.
“Make no mistake about it. This election was a referendum on funding reform, and in this election the student body decisively rebuked the naysayers who have opposed our efforts, delivering a clear message that they support the New GUSA,” GUSA Sen. Colton Malkerson (COL ’13), a co-sponsor of the funding reform legislation, said.
According to Sam Ungar (COL ’12), parliamentarian of the senate, the vote garnered a record turnout of about 44 percent.
“We’re happy that the turnout was so high. I think it is a direct result of students taking an interest in GUSA,” Wagner said.
The Election Commission will present the results of the election to the senate for certification in their next meeting.
The original article can be seen at: http://www.thehoya.com/news/angert-and-kluger-win-gusa-re-election/