Kylee Hower and Matthew Phan will be the next student body president and vice president.
Hower, the Student Government Association’s current speaker of the Student Senate, and Phan, an engineering senator, won over half of the student vote, with 59.95% of the votes, or 482 student votes.
Aiden Powell and Diana Grajeda, the opposing candidates, secured 35.19% of the votes, or 283 student votes.
4.85% of voters, or 39 students, voted for write-in candidates, with 17 students giving write-in votes to Scott Recheck and Brett Eilts.
Hower and Phan campaigned with four goals: engagement, outreach, retention and sustainability.
The team expressed gratitude for those who participated in the election and those who have shown them support during their campaign.
“We want the students to know that we are dedicated to this position,” Hower said. “And we are really, really on fire for student government and student body. We’re really, really excited for this upcoming session and the work that we’re going to do.”
Phan said he is “almost back to 100%” after missing the second presidential debate on March 25 due to a car accident. The vice presidential elect is “pumped” and eager to continue talking with students and organizations.
“We will be here to advocate for the students, and we are really looking forward to the upcoming session,” Phan said.
Hower said she also looks forward to connecting with students as president.
“I feel like student body president is a very influential position,” Hower said. “And I look forward to using that influence to advocate for the student body and do what I can to build those bridges between students, between faculty and between university administration and really do what I can to express my passion for this university.”
During the first few weeks of office, Hower and Phan plan to build a “strong leadership team” and release executive cabinet applications as soon as possible so they can start building their cabinet. They also will flesh out goals for the upcoming session.
804 students voted for presidential tickets. Last year, 1,965 students voted in the election, with 47.6% votes going toward current Student Body President Iris Okere and Vice President Sophie Martins.
After a brief ShockerSync outage on Tuesday due to a temporary system update, the voting period was extended by two hours. The election closed at 7 p.m. on Wednesday instead of 5 p.m.
Hower and Phan will be sworn into office on April 18.
Senatorial election
Based on the results, the following students were elected to the senate for the 67th session:
Fine arts senator — Lily Arens
Health professions senators — Promise Johnson, Jasmine Peng
Liberal arts and sciences senators — Joshua Mallard, Michael Miller, Adriana Owens, Victoria Owens, Morgan Stinnett
Honors senators — Riley Hansen, Ryan Nuckles
Out of state senator — Sophie Walter
International senator — Aaron Haynes
Underrepresented senators — Jayden Island, Raziah Izard, Evelyn Lewis
Adult learner senators — Andrew Hatch, Cynthia Pizzini
Vacancies, write-in candidates
Senatorial positions for fine arts, liberal arts and sciences and out of state have one vacancy.
Health professions and underrepresented senators have two vacancies, while international senators have three.
According to Chief Election Commissioner Gigi Guzman, the following senatorial positions were left uncontested or had a successful write-in candidate election, with the results to be announced on Friday: applied studies, business, engineering, graduate, and military and veteran senators.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the presidential and vice presidential elect’s inauguration is on April 19. The story now includes the correct date.
