Election results of the Graduate Student Association were released Thursday night to reveal that doctoral student Jared Fox took the presidency in what was the highest voter turnout in known GSA history.
With 17 percent of the graduate student body voting, Fox won the presidency by a large margin of 24 percent.
More contested was the position of vice president of internal affairs, in which Marilyn Gray, the current vice president of academic affairs, was victorious over public health student Eric Lai by a 3 percent margin.
Amanda Moussa, an uncontested candidate, won the position of vice president of external affairs.
For the position of the vice president of academic affairs, Michelle Sugi, also a public health student, was victorious over five other candidates in a close race.
There was no apparent winner for the vice president of academic affairs until after the fourth count, as candidates must receive more than 50 percent of the vote to win.
When no one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, the last vote-getting candidate is dropped from the race and second-ranked votes are redistributed among the remaining candidates. The process was repeated until it was found that Sugi received 54.2 percent of the vote.
Sugi said she was both relieved to have won and excited to see so many applicants involved in the election process.
“I have heard that in the past they haven’t had that many candidates. ... I’m so happy that people are more aware of GSA,” Sugi said.
Fox shared the same excitement.
“I am very pleased at how the results turned out,” said Fox, who said he had anticipated winning when he got word of the unofficial results from the GSA elections director Wednesday night.
As soon as Fox heard official word of his victory late Thursday night, he said he sent out an e-mail thanking his friends and supporters.
Overall, both new and old officers are pleased with this year’s higher voter turnout.
“I am really happy to see the large percentage ... it shows that people are getting more interested,” said current GSA President Hanish Rathod.
Sugi attributes the high turnout partly to the amount of candidates that ran. Sugi said she hopes this trend continues in years to come.
Rathod said he is most pleased to see Gray take a GSA post again this year.
“I was really happy to see Marilyn win ... it provides a sense of consistency,” Rathod said, adding that Gray will be able to “carry the ball” on many of the programs that GSA has initiated this year.
Gray says she is ready for this responsibility.
“My experience and knowledge of campus will help in the transition process,” she said.
The next couple of months will mark the transition period between GSA officers – a time that both outgoing and incoming officers consider valuable.
“During the next month, I’m going to be spending time with Hanish,” Fox said, adding that he hopes to continue much of the work the office has initiated.
Rathod too believes it is his responsibility to oversee the transition process, recalling the difficulties he encountered in his own transition from the president of external affairs on last year’s council to the president this year.
Though Fox will take over as the graduate student body leader with less experience than Rathod had, Rathod said he is confident that Fox will be prepared.
“I’m hoping to work with Jared for the next month or so to get him up to speed in the position. ... I have confidence that he’ll be ready to go,” he said.