Culligan wins SGA president

Student voting up 16 percent from last year

Tom Culligan wins SGA president with 52% of the vote.

The Student Government Association wrapped up major elections last Thursday night and is making preparations to hold class council elections this Thursday, April 1.

The major elections had the highest turnout ever in school history, said junior Brendan Travis, co-commissioner to the SGA elections commission. Students cast 3,020 votes, representing 21.6 percent of the student body, Travis said. The turnout constitutes a 16.7 percent increase from last year.

The results were available soon after online polls closed an hour later than scheduled in response to technical difficulties that temporarily closed the online voting process.

As student body president, junior Tom Culligan hopes to "proactively seek out support from other student organizations and students outside of the SGA on key projects. I'm giong to work to be as visible and available as possible to students as well as seeking out their support on a regular basis."

Junior John Alexander Golden won the position of vice president of academic affairs with 65.7 percent of the votes cast.

Junior Alka Franceschi, running uncontested for the post of vice president of student affairs, won with 96.7 percent. Sophomore Gina Maurone, executive treasurer, had a similar margin of victory.

The position of Honor Council president will be filled by junior Andrew Boryan, who won an uncontested race with 96.1 percent of the vote.

Junior Kelli Baker won the station of Honor Council vice president with 60.4 percent of the vote, almost 30 points above her competitor.

A special run-off election for the position of student representative to the Board of Visitors will be held.

Juniors Hunter Hanger and Mandy Woodfield will contend in Thursday's class council meetings, as neither secured 50 percent plus one vote. In accordance with the SGA election rules, when one contestant fails to win a majority of the vote, the two contestants with the greatest proportion of the vote vie for the position in a run-off election.

Woodfield won 47.8 percent of the vote, and Hunter garnered 41.3 percent. With such a small margin separating them, the two competitors will spend the coming days campaigning for every vote.

"Not too much in my campaign has changed," Hanger said, in anticipation of the run-off election. "Before we expand, we must secure the quality of our education," he added.

Woodfield said she has faith in the campaign strategies she has been using thus far. "I will work with the Board of Visitors to make the best decisions for JMU students rather than battle against [the board] on fiscal issues," she said.

Thursday's run-off election will double as an election for class council positions. According to a candidate list obtained by The Breeze, only one of the 12 available positions is actively contested. Six of the positions are uncontested, and five have no official candidates at all. Seats are open for senior class president and vice president, junior class secretary, and sophomore class treasurer and secretary.

More information on the results from the major elections and the upcoming class council elections is available at sga.jmu.edu.