ASUO Executive candidates Rachel Pilliod and Ben Buzbee will face off
against Sean Ritchie and Jason Babkes after the two tickets won Friday’s
primary election.
Pilliod and Buzbee took 541 votes, and Ritchie and Babkes nabbed 403, but none of them were among the candidates waiting outside the ASUO office for results to be posted Friday night. Pilliod said she and Buzbee did not attend the ASUO posting because they wanted to be respectful of the other candidates if the vote had not been in their favor.
“We are very pleased with the results and excited with next weeks
elections and greater voter turnout,” Pilliod said.
Babkes was at a basketball game when he heard the news of his chance to
advance to the general election, which starts Wednesday and runs through
Friday.
“I am happy that we won, but there is still a lot of work ahead of
us,” he said.
Haben Woldu and Oscar Arana placed third with 385 votes.
As for the candidates waiting outside the ASUO office, many went home
visibly disappointed from the end results.
“I’m not shocked. It was the two candidates that I expected to win going
into the last day of election,” presidential candidate Eric Bailey said.
“I am glad there is one ASUO candidate going on to the general elections. May the best candidate win.”
Bailey and running mate Charlotte Nisser placed fourth with 266 votes,
slightly more than last year when Bailey and Jeff Oliver scored 237 votes.
Candidates John Ely and Hayes Hurwitz, who placed a distant seventh out of 10, said they are demanding a recount of votes because they believe the system could have defaulted.
“I am contesting this. There is no way that I only got 144 votes. I work in a sorority house, and they all voted for me, and I had a whole fraternity behind me. Basically, I just want to see proof,” Ely said.
The voter turnout hit 15.3 percent, still short of the ASUO Elections
Boards goal of 20 percent, but ASUO Elections Coordinator Courtney Hight
said she was still pleased that this years tally was higher than last
years primary, which only hit 9 percent despite an extended voting period.
“We hope to meet our 20 percent goal during general elections,” Hight said. “I think all of the candidates did an excellent job.”
The primary campaign remained grievance-free, but that may change on
Monday. The Commentator, who sponsored subversives-fighting candidate Tim Dreier, plans to file a grievance with the ASUO because the press was not allowed inside the office while the Duckweb votes were tallied by the elections board Friday night.
“We would like the votes recounted with media presence and the (ASUO
Constitution Court),” Commentator Publisher Bret Jacobson said. “If they
recount it, some part of justice will be served.”
Dreier placed last with 98 votes.
A number of ASUO Student Senate seats and other positions were decided
Friday.
The closest contest came in seat #1, where Sen. Dominique Beaumonte beat
Rick Reed by only three votes, 602-599.
Two other seats had more than two candidates, and the winner will be
decided with the Executive in the general election.
Kate Kranzush and Brad Fetrow advanced in the seat #7 race, beating Sho
Ikeda, who ran for ASUO Executive last year on a platform of making
dolphins legal housepets and comparing diversity to the Nintendo game
Super Mario Bros.
In seat #14, Levi Strom and Abby Lovett advanced, beating Anthony
Kuchulis.
And, like previous years, many of humorous write-in candidates got a nod
for Executive and senate, including Oregon Quarterback Joey Harrington,
Jesus Christ, football commentator John Madden, the French judge for ice
skating, ASUO Vice President Joy Nair and former ASUO President Wylie
Chen.
E-mail student activities reporter Danielle Gillespie at
[email protected].
2002 ASUO primary election results:
President/Vice President
Rachel Pilliod/Ben Buzbee 541
Sean Ritchie/Jason Babkes 403
Haben Woldu/Oscar Arana 385
Eric Bailey/Charlotte Nisser 266
Sean Powell/Tyler Lofquist 145
John Ely/Hayes Hurwitz 144
Ezra Mannix/Lucas Willett 144
Jesse Harding/Todd Brink 115
Gregory McNeill/Maco Stewart 105
Tim Dreier 98
Associated Students Presidential Advisory Committee
Steve Gold 1,022
Programs Finance Committee Two-Year At-Large Member
James Tilford 563
Russ Tkebuchaava 483
Programs Finance Committee One-year At-Large Member
Kate Shull 1,014
EMU Board At-Large Member
Jacob Holcombe 689
EMU Board At-Large Member
Christa Shively 756
Student Senate Seat #1
Dominique Beaumonte 602
Rick Reed 599
Student Senate Seat #2
Matthew Pfeiffer 980
Student Senate Seat #3
Meghan Standridge 1,010
Student Senate Seat #4
Kady-Ann Davy 1,033
Student Senate Seat #5
Aryn Clark 632
Samuel Berg 388
Student Senate Seat #7
Kate Kranzush 457
Brad Fetrow 375
Alain Sho Ikeda 279
Student Senate Seat #8
Joseph Streckert 940
Student Senate Seat #10
Ben Strawn 197
Student Senate Seat #13
Jackie Lynn Ray 254
Student Senate Seat #14
Levi Strom 123
Abby Lovett 117
Anthony Kuchulis 61
Student Senate Seat #16
Tex Arnold 114
Student Senate Seat #17
Michael Linman 91
Starla Cummins 66
Student Senate Seat #18
Andrew Elliott 63
Scott Austin 12