In one of the tightest races in Duke Student Government history, Pasha Majdi barely edged out Anthony Vitarelli for the organization's presidency, claiming the post by just 46 votes.
Majdi, a junior, won the two-man race with 1,472 votes to Vitarelli's 1,426. Although close races like this have gone to run off elections in years past, Tuesday's results will stand because Majdi landed a majority--51 percent--of the vote.
In another close race, Andrew Wisnewski secured the post of executive vice president, just beating Priscilla Mpasi by 167 votes. Because he did not secure a majority of the vote, Wisnewski needed to lead the pack by at least 6 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off; Mpasi fell behind Wisnewski by just under 7 percent.
In the other races, junior Chase Johnson won vice president of academic affairs by 13 percent, freshman Joel Kliksberg won vice president of community interaction by 25 percent and sophomore Brandon Goodwin won vice president of student affairs by 18 percent. In the only uncontested race, sophomore Jesse Longoria won vice president of athletics and campus services.
DSG Attorney General David Kahne said this year's elections ran relatively smoothly, despite a database glitch that allowed some members of the Class of 2003 to register their votes. Kahne said all illegitimate votes were documented and discounted before he certified the election results.
Eileen Kuo, DSG director of internal computing, said the problem occurred because the Office of Institutional Technology had not yet fully updated its database to exclude the Class of 2003 as eligible voters. Thus, those members of the Class of 2003 who were still on the Duke server, such as those currently listed as staff members, were allowed to vote in Tuesday's election.
Kuo said the election script showed 18 individuals who voted but were listed as members of the Class of 2003. DSG's election committee discovered that four of the 18 were actually undergraduates who could legitimately vote; the votes of the remaining 14 were discounted. Because this year's elections included several very close races, Kuo stressed that the election committee was careful to check for any and all rogue votes. "It's impossible that anyone other than those 14 got through and were able to vote when they shouldn't have," she said. Less than an hour after the election results were certified Tuesday night, the president-elect was busy drafting a letter to The Chronicle with a message to all students interested in becoming a DSG senator.
"I am extremely excited and enthusiastic about next year and can't wait to get started," Majdi said. "For the last few weeks at school, I will be spending all my time outside of class and studies on DSG work and the transitional role and on continuing my duties in Campus Council. And I'm sincere when I say 'all my time outside class and studies.'"
Majdi credited Vitarelli, also a junior, with running a good campaign and said he believes the two will continue to work together next year.
"Anthony and I have been a team since freshman year and that's going to continue," Majdi said. "Positions and titles aren't important. We've been very effective on Campus Council together and we will continue that next year."
Vitarelli said he was unsure if he would join DSG for next year, but voiced his confidence in Majdi's abilities as president. He said he does not plan to contest the election results.
"Pasha ran a great campaign. He connected with a ton of voters, and it's a testament to his vision for Duke," Vitarelli said. "He understands what students want and will absolutely improve student life on campus."
Both Majdi and Wisnewski said they hold no reserves about working with each other as DSG president and executive vice president, despite the fact that they have never worked together before.
"[Wisnewski's] the kind of guy that can work with everyone, and that's my impression of Pasha as well," said current DSG President Matt Slovik. "I don't foresee any problems and have complete faith that the two will work really well together next year."
Students also passed a amendment to the constitution that changes the name of the Facilities and Athletics Committee to the Athletics and Campus Services Committee, removes the definition of residential location from DSG senatorial representation and changes the number of votes needed to pass a constitutional amendment to a simple majority of whatever number of voters turn out.
Kahne said the referendum passed 87 percent to 13 percent, with 45 percent of the undergraduate student body weighing in on that particular issue. DSG needed at least 25 percent of the student body to vote on the referendum in order for it to pass.
"This year's executive committee gave the future committee a gift, not only with the [$140,000 of unused funds that were found] but also with the passing of the referenda," said Cliff Davison, current executive vice president. "True restructuring will be able to happen next year."
Overall, 46 percent of the student body reported to the polls Tuesday. Davison said this is one of the highest turnouts in recent years, although last year reached 51 percent.
"In general, campus is a little more politicized during this time, so the high turnout probably has to do a little with national trends," Davison said. "People are interested in politics, whether on a national scale or here with DSG."
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