After an evening of technical difficulties on the Basement student elections website, Molly Stutzman '02 was named the new Student Body president and Michael Newton '04 the new Student Body vice president, as predicted by a recent poll conducted by The Dartmouth.
With 2345 total electronic ballots cast, voter turnout proved to be the highest in recent memory. Margaret Kuecker '01, Chair of the Elections Planning and Advisory Committee, said she was "thrilled" with the increased student participation.
With 58.3 percent of the 2162 votes cast for president, Stutzman garnered nearly twice the political support of her closest competitor, Michael Sevi '02, who won 29.3 percent of votes. Ted Smith '02 lagged behind with 6.7 percent.
The vice-presidential race was much closer. With 39.1 percent of 1930 vice-presidential votes, Newton squeaked by co-competitor Aly Rahim '02, who received 34.7. Amit Anand '03 received 23.1 percent.
Both executive-elects told The Dartmouth that they are looking forward to the coming year.
"I'm really excited," Stutzman said, adding that after several months of making tentative plans, she is enthusiastic to finally know that she will have a forum to put her ideas to work.
"I'm really looking forward to working with Molly and making Dartmouth a better place," Newton added.
As for the Class Council races, Jen Tutak '02 will step up as the president of the Class of 2002, along with vice-president Thomas Wright '02.
John Kupiec '04 will lead the Class of 2004, while Laura Nieskens '04, who surpassed her closest competitor Isabel Casariego '04 by just 36 votes, will become the class vice president.
Now serving on the Committee on Standards will be Amit Anand '03, Jonathan Block '02, Kumar Garg '03, Katie Pasciucco '02, Jonathan Sussman '02, and Stutzman.
The new members of the Organizational Adjudication Committee include Vanessa Green '02, Kumar Garg '03, Jonathan Block '02, Kendra Quincy Kemp '02, Meredith Schwartz '03 and Tyler Garland '02.
According to Tim Danford '01, president of The Basement website, errors in the elections software caused the results of the election to be announced more than five hours later than anticipated.
Because some candidates were running for more than one position, the software was counting votes inaccurately, the Basement team noticed this morning. Thus it became necessary to tap into backup log files containing individual electronic ballots to make the final count, Danford explained.
Despite technical difficulties, Danford assured The Dartmouth that he is confident that the election results are accurate.
"I'm about as certain as I'm going to be of anything," he said.
As least three former presidential and vice-presidential hopefuls said they plan to remain or become active in the Student Assembly next year.
"We fought hard. A lot of people believed in us," Sevi said, adding that he plans to attend more Assembly meetings in the future.
Rahim agreed, adding that despite losing he is optimistic about the future.
"I think we really put the issue of SA reform in the public arena," he stated.
Anand said that he also plans to continue being active in the Assembly, and that he looks forward to working with Newton.
Current Assembly president Jorge Miranda '01 said he is also enthusiastic about working with the incoming pair, whom he described as "two incredible people."
