Senior Nomi Nazeer raced to the window of the Student Senate office as the results for this year’s Student Senate election were posted.
After quickly scanning the results, Nazeer could no longer contain his excitement, as he crumbled to his knees in the hallway outside the offices.
“Oh, my God, are you (kidding) me, man?!” he said before collapsing.
Nazeer was celebrating not only his own win for an off-campus Senator position, but the victory of his friend, senior Aaron Olson, in the presidential race.
Twenty-one student votes made the difference in this year’s student body presidential election, as Olson and running mate, junior De Anna Breault were narrowly elected to lead the student body.
Olson and Breault took in 516 votes, or about 51 percent of the votes cast in last week’s election.
“I’m very excited. De and I are excited to start on Monday,” Olson said after hearing the election results.
Seniors Emily Ascher and Michelle Madsen won 495 votes, but were not present when the final results were posted Thursday evening.
Ascher said she was pleased that the vote was so close, but said she reflects on the campaign and wonders if she could have done something more to clinch a win.
“It can’t help but make you think, ‘If only I’d done this or done that,’ ” she said.
Olson applauded Ascher and Madsen on the campaign.
“I just want to congratulate Emily and Michelle,” Olson said on Thursday. “This is probably the best campaign the university has ever seen.”
The referendum to decide whether UW-Eau Claire should remain a member of United Council passed by a vote of 745-213. |
A red-faced Olson hugged Nazeer moments after the results were posted, telling him, “I couldn’t have done it without you. I owe you the world, man.”
In an interview Sunday, Olson said he spent the days following the election preparing for the 49th session and taking time for some “post-election healing.”
Starting today, Olson said he will follow up on one of his campaign promises by conducting an interview with a UW-Eau Claire student. Olson promised in his campaign that he would interview one student every day and post the findings of his interview in the Student Senate office.
Additionally, in coming weeks Olson said he hopes to start looking at issues such as extended building hours and conditional use permits.
Eighteen of the 21 Senate candidates running under the umbrella of Students for Action were elected to Senate seats. All 10 off-campus Students For Action candidates won seats.
Senior Andrew Werthmann ran under Students for Action and also won an off-campus seat.
“I was quite pleased with (the results), for how many (students) we ran,” he said.
Werthmann said the group name will probably be disbanded, but the ideals that the students promoted will continue.
Olson said he has some concerns with the possibility of a voting bloc on Student Senate.
“I don’t really know the ethics of a voting bloc in a non-partisan organization,” he said. “But we’ll see how it plays out. I hope every senator comes to meetings with their own ideas and their own ways to help students.”
Student voter turnout declined this year for the second year in a row. With 1,092 votes cast last week, there was about an 11 percent drop in voter turnout from the 1,231 votes cast in 2004. In 2004, there was also 35.2 percent fewer votes cast than in 2003.
Olson and Breault will take office in three weeks, when current President Chad Wade and Vice President Meredith Marx leave office. Olson said he plans to hang on to the Senate seat he won in last week’s election until he takes over the role of president.
New senators will begin their terms at 6 p.m. tonight when the 49th session meets for the first time. The meeting will be held in its regular location in the Tamarack Room in Davies Center.