By MATTHEW THOMPSON, staff reporter
After a month of campaigns and 672 votes later, the Associated Students of Central Washington University Board of Directors election is over and seven students can rejoice in their victory.
“I was very pleased with [the results],” Cassie DuBore, newly elected vice president for legislative affairs, said. “I think it is a really diverse group because we have some people who are brand new to the BOD, we have some people who have a lot of experience and people that are bringing in new traits.”
The BOD presidential race was decided by 196 votes with Bryan Elliot receiving nearly 65 percent of the votes over his opponent, Philip Rush.
Mary Orthmann secured her second term as the incumbent in the race for the position of vice president for clubs and organizations beating out opponent Kaleb Burg with a 93-vote margin.
Two candidates fresh to the BOD scene vied for the position of VP for Academic Affairs, with Kelsie Miller winning 61.7 percent over Jessica Murillo.
Spencer Flores narrowly beat out Jesse Hegstrom Oakey with only 78 votes. Flores was not only happy for her win but also that the race was the closest.
“We got along really well and everyone was like, ‘why are you guys friends?’ and I’m like, ‘this isn’t the Hunger Games,’” Flores said.
A mere 91 votes clinched the win for Scott Kazmi over Corey Poston. Even though Kazmi was confident in his prospects for winning the election he was shocked to hear the results.
“I thought both my opponent and I were on a level playing field through the heart of the election,” Scott Kazmi, newly elected vice president for Student Life and Facilities said. “I was still pretty surprised that I won.”
Jacob Wittman and Cassie DuBore both ran unopposed for the positions of executive vice president and VP for Legislative Affairs respectively.
This year’s turnout for the election was 40 votes less than last year’s 712. That means that less than 8 percent of the students enrolled on this campus voted for their student government.
Elliott sees the voter turnout as problem that needs to be fixed through higher engagement of the BOD with the student body as well as amending the rules for BOD campaigns.
“I think that some of the campaign rules need to be improved and maybe streamlined,” Elliott said. “The rules are very well intentioned, but I think at times they can be too restrictive and that really prevents the word getting out about elections.”
