The Election Commission announced tonight that Pat Dowd (SFS ’09) and James Kelly (COL ’09) won the run-off election and will be the next GUSA President and Vice President.
After three rounds of instant run-off voting, Dowd received 1,304 of the 2,549 votes cast. Runner-up Kyle Williams (COL ’09) received 1,070. D.W. Cartier (COL ’09) and David Dietz (COL ’10) finished third and fourth, respectively.
In the meeting in which the results were announced, Dowd reached out to the other candidates and said he wanted them “to be part of what we’re doing.”
“Definitely the first thing we want to do is meet with the other candidates,” Dowd said after the meeting. “[We want to] sit down with them and make sure their voice is heard.”
The run-off election was called after the GUSA Senate voted to deny certification of the first election’s results, based on problems with the confusing ballot, improper application of instant run-off voting, and the correlation between alphabetical order on the ballot and the number of votes received in later rounds.
“Whoever wins can be said to have the clear voice of the student body behind them, and will be a stronger force for change on behalf of the student body because of it,” GUSA Speaker of the Senate Eden Schiffman wrote in an email earlier today. “The runoff included a more manageable ballot, IRV correctly applied, and even higher turnout than the original vote, and has been, from all indications so far, a complete success.”
All eight candidates agreed to a run-off between the top four, according to Election Commissioner Maura Cassidy (COL ’08). However, Sean Hayes (COL ’10), who placed fifth, and D.W. Cartier (COL ’09), who won the first election, later raised objections.
Photo by Juliana Brint, Associate News Editor
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