Vice president, treasurer races head for runoffs
Cheers rang out on the second floor of Russell House Wednesday night as it was announced that current Student Body Vice President Chase Mizzell had been elected the new student body president with a whopping 82.58 percent of the vote, the largest since 2007.
The president-elect celebrated briefly — flanked by his mother, sister and campaign staffers — before rushing to a University Ambassadors meeting.
Mizzell’s opponents, Josh “Otter” Moore and Kenneth Bragg, received 11.18 percent and 6.15 percent of the vote, respectively.
The races for vice president and treasurer, however, were forced into runoffs.
Vice presidential candidate Courtland Thomas received the most votes in the race, with 1,589, or 35.04 percent, of the total votes. Close behind was Ryan Bailey, with 1,494, or 32.94 percent.
Candidates Will Fortanbary and Alex Waelde were eliminated from the vice presidential race. Fortanbary got 900 total votes, or 19.85 percent. Waelde received 12.15 percent of the vote, coming in at 551.
While excited to come out on top, Thomas said he was expecting a runoff and has already made plans for the coming week’s campaigning.
When asked if that included another music video, he would not say but hinted that one may be on the way.
The runoff election for student body treasurer will be between Haley Guyton and Caroline Hendricks. Guyton won the most votes with 1,942 — 45.27 percent — and Hendricks trailed with 1,289, or 30.05 percent.
While relieved to have come out 15 percentage points ahead of her opponent, Guyton is not ready to relax just yet.
“It’s like going up a roller coaster. Your heart’s beating, you’re looking over the edge and you’re just stuck there,” she said. “It’s a false safety, and it’s something you can’t really rely on.”
Guyton also had interesting plans for her runoff campaign.
“[Former Daily Gamecock Editor-in-Chief] Colin Campbell tweeted that we’d have a ‘Single Ladies’ video if I made it to the runoff, so I guess we’re having that,” she said, referencing Beyonce’s hit music video.
Hendricks was less specific about her campaign plans, saying she would figure out her main strategy later Wednesday night.
Hendricks’ campaign manager, former Student Body Vice President Emily Saleeby, was a bit more sly in her response.
“I’ve got a few cards I can pull,” Saleeby said.
The vote total, reaching 4,569 for president, was 48.8 percent higher than last year’s total. The numbers were higher than the usual vote total at most SEC schools, Guyton said.
Mizzell said the noticeable increase in voter turnout was a significant sign of student engagement.
“That’s our proof,” Mizzell said. “We can go to the students and say we’re listening. We can go to the administration and say that we are really the voice of the students. This proves that we’re representing the students in Student Government; we don’t just stay in our own little bubble.”
Mizzell also said he was open to considering former candidates for his cabinet.
“If people have the passion and will to campaign ... they should be considered,” Mizzell said.
Multiple senate seats were won by students who did not even file to run. First-year chemical engineering student Patrick Barboun won a seat in the College of Engineering and Computing’s district, as did a student named Robert Zachary Johnson, although no Robert Zachary Johnson is listed in the USC directory.
First-year pre-pharmacy student Katie Wray won a seat in the two-seat Pre-Pharmacy delegation with a single write-in vote.
First-year public health student Katie Lawall also won with a write-in vote in the School of Public Health’s delegation, and a runoff between two candidates in the same delegation will be held Tuesday and Wednesday. Second-year exercise science student Alexander Almaguer and fourth-year exercise science student Jules Greer received one write-in vote each, and one will become senator.
First-year music student Andrew Yost also won with four write-in votes and will be serving as senator for the School of Music. The second seat in that senate delegation remains empty.
The only senate delegations that will be empty at the start of the next term will be the College of Pharmacy’s and the College of Social Work’s. No candidates filed and none were written in.
There will also be one vacant seat in the College of Nursing’s delegation. Six total seats will remain vacant, one less than the current seven that are vacant.
All of those who won through write-in votes must undergo checks of their GPAs and judicial records and will not be officially senators-elect until they are determined to have the proper records.