Students have elected Cait McGovern ’21 and Jonathan Briffault ’21 as their Student Assembly president and vice president, respectively. The McGovern-Briffault ticket ran a campaign focused on student wellness, administrative transparency and student engagement.
A total of 1,918 ballots were cast in the election. Of the 1,917 votes cast for SA president, McGovern received 1,092, while her opponent Olivia Audsley ’21 received 785. Vice presidential candidates Briffault and María Teresa Hidalgo ’22 received 1,027 and 858 votes, respectively.
The 1,918 voters make up 41.3 percent of the 4,641 students enrolled in the College this term. This is the second-highest number of ballots ever cast in an SA election. 2018 saw the highest voter turnout with 1,960 votes cast, and 1,859 ballots — the third-highest number of ballots — were cast in last year’s election.
McGovern and Briffault said that they were pleased with voter turnout, despite the remote term.
“That was definitely something that we were a little bit worried about with the online term, but I’m glad that a lot of people heard about it and managed to get out and vote,” Briffault said.
The pair will succeed current president Luke Cuomo ’20 and current vice president Ariela Kovary ’20. McGovern said that their tenure will begin at the end of the spring term.
“I’m excited to spend another year on Student Assembly listening to students, working as an advocate for every person on our campus,” McGovern said.
Briffault added that their door is “always open” should students have ideas, questions or requests.
In a statement to The Dartmouth, Audsley wrote, “María Teresa and I are disappointed by the results of the election, but are excited to continue organizing for the good of the community.” She added that the pair are “humbled by and grateful for the outpouring of support.”
“We feel proud to have brought long-ignored issues to the table, and to have centered marginalized voices in our campaign,” she wrote.
In the race for senior class president and vice president, Jared Cape ’21 and Da’jahnae Provitt ’21 were elected, receiving 272 votes and 395 votes, respectively. Emmanuel Berrelleza ’21, Provitt’s running mate, received 185 votes for senior class president. The ticket of Luke Amen ’21 and Robert Alter ’21 received 142 votes and 198 votes for class president and vice president, respectively.
The Class Council executive for the Class of 2022 will be Alexander Klein ’22, and the Class of 2023 Class Council executives will be Salvatore Lupo ’23, Darren Nelson ’23 and Jamie Tatum ’23.
Additionally, Chase Alvarado-Anderson ’23 and Jacob Maguire ’21 will be the senators for Allen House. For East Wheelock House, Gerol Fang ’23 and Katrina Yu ’21 will serve as senators. Riley Flewelling ’21, Elliott Montroll ’23 and Joshua Ocampo ’22 will be the North Park House senators, and Allyson Gaines ’21, Jennifer Qian ’22 and Noble Rai ’23 will be the School House senators. For South House, Rohan Chakravarty ’21, David Millman ’23 and Jason Zavras ’22 will be senators. The West House senators will be Tanner Bielefeld Pruitt ’22, Finn Hulse ’23 and Philip Lindsay ’21.
During the remote term, candidates campaigned via social media and other online outreach. On May 9, candidates participated in a live debate over Zoom, streamed on The Dartmouth’s Facebook page.
Write-in candidates will be announced once they have been screened by Judicial Affairs and confirmed interest in serving.
McGovern is a former member of The Dartmouth staff.
