Months of work and hundreds of dollars invested paid off for the new ASUO Executive Rachel Pilliod and Ben Buzbee, who won the general election in a landslide victory Friday.
The duo captured 1,056 of the 1,659 ballots cast for executive, or 64 percent. Opponents Sean Ritchie and Jason Babkes received 603 votes, or 36 percent of the total.
“We couldn’t be more excited,” President-elect Pilliod said. “We’re pleased by the margin we won by, and so excited and appreciative of all the voters,” she said.
Pilliod also thanked the students who organized their campaign.
“It was hard work and grassroots organization,” she said.
Buzbee said he plans to take a breather for a few days, then jump right into examining his fiscal responsibilities as vice president.
“I’m looking forward to presenting the ASUO in a good light and letting students know what ASUO does,” he said.
Ritchie and Babkes outspent Pilliod and Buzbee more than two-fold. The second-place pair launched a KNRQ radio campaign earlier this week and ran a full-page advertisement in the Emerald during the primary.
Expenditure forms for the last week of the race will be available Monday.
But Ritchie defended his and Babkes’ campaigning, blaming their “outsider” position and student apathy for their loss.
“We wouldn’t have run our campaign any differently,” he said. “Students are bombarded for three weeks with elections. It turns them off to voting and is hard to combat.”
He added that they were playing catchup from the beginning against a ticket that had previous experience in student government.
Adam Jones Emerald
Sean Ritchie and his supporters wait for the results of the ASUO General Election on Friday.
“We were at a disadvantage from the start with not being in ASUO, and it was just a little too much to compete with,” he said.
Turnout hit 10.5 percent this year, down from last week’s primary election peak of 15.3 percent and far off the ASUO Elections Board’s goal of 20 percent.
Current ASUO President Nilda Brooklyn and Vice President Joy Nair won last year’s election with 9 percent voter turnout.
ASUO Elections Coordinator Courtney Hight blamed the drop this year
in part on a lack of ballot measures and student confusion that they had to vote in both a primary and a general election.
Hight said ballot measures asking for money attract more voters, and she heard of some students who thought the primary vote sealed the election.
But Hight lauded her board for their efforts this year to spread the word about elections early and often.
“We started recruiting early, at the end of last term,” she said.
The elections board called its voter education seminars and candidates fairs in the residence halls, greek houses and student unions a success, and also gave credit to the diverse group of candidates running in the primary and general elections.
Grievances have halted the last three ASUO elections, sometimes multiple times, forcing the ASUO Constitution Court to untie the political knots before voting could resume. This year, the court dismissed the only grievance 20 minutes after voting ended Friday.
Jonathan House Emerald
Newly elected ASUO Executives, Rachel Pilliod (center) and Ben Buzbee (right), congratulate Pilliod’s roommate Megan Hughes.
The court dismissed the case on a technicality because it was based on Oregon law only, and no ASUO rule was referenced. The justices wrote in the decision that the court can decide only on “questions arising under the ASUO Constitution.”
Commentator publisher Bret Jacobson filed the grievance after elections board members refused to let media representatives witness last week’s primary election vote tally. Jacobson, in his grievance, argued that the count fell under Oregon’s Public Meetings Law and asked for a recount and the removal of the elections board.
Even Hight was dismayed that the court still didn’t clarify the issue of media presence during ballot tallies.
“I’d still like to know,” she said.
Jacobson could not be reached for comment.
In other University elections, James Tilford took the Programs Finance Committee At-Large seat. Esteban Montero, Jessica Fernandez and Megan Hughes were named to the Student Recreation and Fitness Advisory Board. Dominique Beaumonte was elected Programs Finance Senator. Kate Kranzush is resuming her role as the Athletic Department Finance Senator, and Levi Strom was voted the Social Sciences Senator.
Managing editor Jeremy Lang contributed
to this report. E-mail reporter Robin Weber
at [email protected].