Posted: Friday, Feb. 27, 9:11 a.m. — Juniors Lee Roupas and Omar Woodard will face off next week to determine who will be the next Student Association president. Executive vice presidential candidates Ed Buckley and Anyah Dembling will also compete in the run-off, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
The Joint Election Committee announced election results at about 8:35 a.m., waking about 30 sleeping students on the Hippodrome’s chairs and couches. Election results were announced at 5:15 a.m. last year. JEC officers attributed the increase in counting time to a larger number of paper ballots and fewer computerized voting spots.
The referendum to double the Student Association fee to $2 did not pass.
Victorious candidates gasped with excitement as they embraced their campaign teams and friends.
Roupas, who said he was exhausted and excited after the announcement, called his mother on his cell phone, wiping away tears. He said he plans to go to sleep Friday, and get his message out to students this week.
Woodard said he was “very confident” about the race.
“We’ll really keep the momentum we had (this week), we’re going to continue to run strong,” Woodard said.
The JEC finished sorting paper ballots for all candidates at about midnight Thursday. About 20 people either running for a position or affiliated with candidates sat in a conference room on the fourth floor of the Marvin Center.
John Plack, chair of the JEC, which runs the elections, said JEC members counted paper ballots from about 12:30 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday. Voters’ names were also double-checked, and computerized votes were added.
Students waited in anticipation, walking between the Hippodrome and fourth floor of the Marvin Center. An “election slumber party” started at 10 p.m., and students ate free cookies and fruit. Singing group Emocapella performed at about 10:30 p.m.
By about 2 a.m., several candidates and their supporters took advantage of the comfortable couches on the fifth floor of the Marvin Center and slept. Some Woodard supporters started a game of bowling in the wee hours, screaming loudly and enthusiastically for team members.
Dembling said after the results were announced that she had been at the Hippodrome since 3 a.m. and had “no idea” how the election would turn out.
“It’s going to be another long, hard week,” she said.
Buckley was not at the Hippodrome at the time of the JEC’s announcement. He said in an e-mail early Friday that he told his campaign team to go home because “we’d find out in due course.”
“It was an incredibly exciting election, and we’re all looking forward to next week,” he said.
Several unsuccessful candidates dropped into the Marvin Center throughout the night, and some set up camp in the Hippodrome. Presidential candidate Isaiah Pickens was visibly upset as election results were announced. He and his campaign team and friends gathered in the back of the Hippodrome to talk for a few minutes afterward.
“We’ve got winners on our team and some are not used to be coming up on the losing end,” said Will Donovan, Pickens’ campaign manager. “When you put your heart and soul into something, that was really (what was important).”
“Just because we didn’t come out on top doesn’t make us losers,” he added.
Other winners were Peter Feldman and Jordyn Cosme (U-At-Large), Jason Karasik and Nandi Witter (G-At-Large), Program Board chair Eric Weigand, PB Vice Chair Tyler Coffey, Ryan Kilpatrick and Kyle Spector (U-ESIA), Allessandra Terenzoni (Law), Marvin Center Governing Board Judah Ferst, Aimee Schulman, Christine Caggiano and Chrissy Trotta, Anthony Marinos and C.J. Calloway (U-SPBM), Mike Diwan (G-SBPM), Eli Mazour (U-SEAS), Kevin Waloff (U-SPHHS), Chjris Layfield (G-SPHHS) and Matt Tuck and Siyavashfooladian Fooladian (G-SMHS).
Unannounced candidate positions were either ties or undetermined because of study abroad students.
–Jennifer Nedeau contributed to this report.
