Lee, Gustafson split ticket in initial USGA results

Correction: The runoff between RItika Samant & Hannah Syed will end at 8 a.m. on Tuesday.

The USGA elections commission released the results of the USGA Spring 2021 election to the Kaleidoscope.

Angela Lee leads the initial results of the election for the USGA president with 836 votes out of 1,574 cast, good for 53.11% of the vote.

A runoff between Hannah Syed and Ritika Samant for vice president of student services is set for Monday, March 22. The polls will open at 8 a.m. Monday and close at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

These results are the initial first round results. They are not final. A candidate with the most votes may not take that seat.

“The person with the most votes may not ultimately fill that position because some people ran for multiple positions and some people may not choose to accept the position they won,” elections commissioner Annisha Borah said in an email.

The election commission will finalize all votes by March 24. The final results will be announced March 25.

Lee, a junior majoring in chemistry, is the current executive vice president. She ran on a platform centered around three pillars of campus culture, professional endeavors and student life that emphasized providing services to students.

She defeats Peyton Perry, a junior majoring in political science and current associate justice, who ran on a platform of reforming USGA with a focus on transparency.

The race for executive vice president represents a ticket split with Davis Gustafson, a sophomore majoring in industrial distribution and current senator, leading in the initial returns. Gustafson ran as the running mate of Peyton Perry. Gustafson had a narrow lead over opponent Abhishek Kamath, capturing 51.49% of the vote.

For the rest of the executive council, Xavier Turner, a junior majoring in political science and criminal justice and USGA diversity and inclusion coordinator, leads for the position of vice president of communications with 64.29% of the vote. Sarah Tran, a chemistry and biology double major and current RSO resource coordinator, wins the position of vice president of finance opposed.

Hannah Syed, a sophomore majoring in chemistry and senator in the College of Arts & Sciences, leads the first round of voting for vice president of student services capturing 744 votes. Ritika Samant, a sophomore majoring in neuroscience and current civic engagement co-coordinator, wins 574 votes in the first round. The two will face off in the Monday runoff. Eunice Choe, a sophomore majoring in psychology, finishes in third with 254.

The vote totals each college’s senators are below. The College of Arts & Sciences has 10 senate seats to fill, the Collat School of Business has five and all others have two. At least four seats will not be filled, two in the School of Education, one in the School of Business and one in the School of Public Health, as no candidates ran for those seats.

The number of seats for the College of Arts & Sciences and the School of Nursing have been reduced since their initial appearance on the elections ballot. CAS lost two senators and Nursing lost one as the election commission corrected an initial mistake in the distribution of seats that saw each school being overrepresented to their peers.

With only 1,574 votes cast in the election, a small fraction of the student body chose the group’s composition. This represents a turnout of 12.43% of voters. This is a small increase from the 11.10% turnout in the first-round last year. Voting was extended this year due to inclement weather in the Birmingham area on Wednesday with polls closing at 8 a.m. on Friday, March 19.

The deadline for election complaints for the general election is tonight, March 19 at 11:59 p.m.

The full results are below.

Raw Results, First Round

USGA Preisdent

Executive Vice President

Vice President of Communications

Vice President of Student Services

Vice President of Finance

Senators for the College of Arts & Sciences (10 Seats)

Senators for the Collat School of Business (5 Seats)

School of Nursing (2 seats)

School of Engineering (2 seats)

School of Health Professions (2 seats)

School of Public Health