UPDATED: April 18, 2016, at 4:55 p.m.
Nick Harrington '17 and Sally Portman ‘17 emerged as Student Assembly president and vice president in this year’s election, the Elections Planning and Advisory Committee announced on Sunday evening.
From 8 p.m. Saturday to 8 p.m. Sunday, students cast 1,556 ballots for student body president and 1,379 ballots for student body vice president. Among five presidential candidates and four vice presidential candidates, Harrington and Portman received a total of 612 votes and 714 votes, respectively. Harrington received more than twice the number of votes as the first runner-up, Aaron Cheese ’18, who received 304 votes. Menaka Reddy ’18 was the first runner-up in the vice president election, receiving 287 votes.
This year’s election saw an unusually large candidate pool, with the number of presidential candidates being the highest since 2012.
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The “approval voting” system was adopted by EPAC in 2010 and allows voters to cast votes for more than one candidate, EPAC Chair Derek Whang '17 said. Whang said that this system allows students to vote in favor of all of the candidates they like and exclude the ones they do not. He added that EPAC plans to restructure both the campaign and voting process in the coming year.
Harrington said that he found it great to witness a diverse group of candidates who had built platforms upon the primary concerns of the student body.
“The enhanced quality of the election pushed each candidate hard to show why they felt they deserved to win,” he said.
Harrington, who was chief of staff under previous Student Assembly president Frank Cunningham ‘16, said that he aims for a smooth transition from the previous administration. One of his goals for the coming year is to create a more democratic and inclusive Student Assembly. One approach to doing so would be electing members of the Student Assembly through the housing system, he said.
The newly elected 2017 Class Council president and vice president are Dillon Rich ’17 and Abena Frempong ’17. Rich, running unopposed, received 322 votes out of 371 ballots cast, while Frempong received 285 votes out of 373 ballots cast. Andrew Goldfarb '17 received 77 votes. Toryima Asom ’18, running for 2018 Class Council executive, received 258 votes out of 337 ballots cast, while two other write-in candidates,William Tremml ‘18 andMadeleine Yi ‘18,were elected as executives. Danny Li ’19, Josephine Kalshoven ’19 and Hanting Guo ’19 were elected as 2019 Class Council executives.
This year is Asom’s second year running for positions inStudent Assembly. Having been on the board previously, Asom said he is glad to be back. While 10 students vied for positions in the 2018 Class Council last year, Asom was the only named candidate on the ballot in this year’s election. Asom said that the absence of other candidates could be attributed to their plans on having off-terms during junior year.
“It’s reassuring know that you will be on board, but at the same time, competition is not necessarily a bad thing,” Asom said.
Asom said that making sophomore summer a great experience for everyone is at the top of his agenda, along with connecting Dartmouth students who are off-campus with each other.
Timo Vaimann ’17, who ran for vice president, said that he hopes to see the newly elected president and vice president take advantage of the ideas put on the table by other candidates. Looking back at his election experience, Vaimann said that it offered him a great opportunity to be involved in healthy discussions pertinent to current issues on campus.
Nathan Busam ’17, who also ran for vice president, echoed this sentiment, saying that he hopes Harrington and Portman remain open to ideas outside of their original platform. Having known his running mate Sean Cann ’17 since freshman year, Busam said he saw their friendship evolve throughout the election process.
Oliver Edelson ’18, Morgan Corley ’18, Daniel Lee ’17 and Ian Whitney ’18 were elected as at-large members on the Committee on Standards/Organizational Adjudication Committee. Two write-in candidates, Spencer Blair '17 and Jack Sullivan '18,, were also elected to the COS/OAC.
Correction appended (April 17, 2016):The original version of the story stated that Toryima Asom ’18 ran unopposed for 2018 Class Council president and that Danny Li ’19 was elected as 2019 Class Council president. Asom and Li are both one of three members of their respective class year’s class councils.
