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Hicks, Brown win big

Kgalbs22@siu.edu

The gentle purr of the electronic scanner filled the basement of the library Wednesday as the Election Commission eagerly awaited results.

In the end, sophomore Tequia Hicks was named President, sophomore Nate Brown as Vice President, and incumbent Ed Ford was voted Student Trustee.

As the machine tallied the Scantron votes for Undergraduate Student Government President, USG senators and two ballot referendums, members of the election commission were hard at work counting Student Trustee ballots by hand.

The tense evening yielded unpredictable results, and Election Commissioner Tyler Myers was hesitant to release the results Wednesday.

In the end, he was persuaded. Hicks and Brown, running under the Freedom Party, came out with 959 votes to the Munchie Party's 406.

"I thought it was going to be a close race, and I'm glad the students read up and voted on what they felt was important," Hicks said.

Hicks, who was notified of her win by her boyfriend while taking a political science exam, said she was impressed by the 1,571-voter turnout. She noted it was substantially more than the 1,000 voters in the previous year's elections.

Hicks, Brown and Ford will each take office the day after the week of the spring semester's final exams in May.

The Student Trustee elections showed Ford ahead of Laura Taylor and Josh Pershbacher. Ford received 503 votes to Taylor's 471 and Perschbacher's 319.

"I'm ready to continue working on issues," Ford said. "One of the things we need to give immediate attention to is the admission standards issue. Everyone deserves access to higher education."

Myers said the experience was stressful as well as fulfilling.

"It was stressful, but I think we got it running smooth," he said. "I was happy with the turnout, and we had a great staff."

Hicks said she is looking forward to finishing out the year in her current Vice President position and continuing her duties.

"After the election, I can get back to things I put on hold," she said. "I'm ready to get back to business."

Vice President-elect Brown said he was also eager to spend the summer working with Hicks in the USG office.

"I have all summer long to prepare," he said.

Students also had an opportunity to show their support for the Munchie Man and voice an opinion on the Mass Communications and Media Arts restructuring referendums.

The Munchie Man and MCMA referendums, drafted by USG Presidential candidate Rob Taylor, passed overwhelmingly. The Munchie Man drew 1, 267 supporters on campus, and only 112 disapproved.

The MCMA referendum yielded results of 1,038 disapproving of the restructuring and 162 agreeing with it.

Though the elections are over, no appointments can be finalized until the USG Senate approves the winners.

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