Quiet and motionless, the huddled mass of orange shirts bowed heads and linked arms as the presidential announcement neared.
Then, seconds later, Nick Southall’s name was spoken.
The crowd of supporters erupted as one, rushing their new president as tears fell from his eyes.
VOICE had won.
The internal senate ticket won all but one position in Thursday’s elections as the F.U.S.S. (Fighting to Uphold Student Solidarity) ticket, running only executive candidates, fell hundreds of votes short of victory at every position.
Southall, VOICE’s presidential candidate, beat his opponent, Matt Farmer of the F.U.S.S. ticket, by 562 votes, receiving 1,342 overall.
The total number of votes cast totaled 2,313 this year. That total was higher than last year’s 2,172 votes but substantially lower than 2011 at 4,057 and 2010 at 3,909, according to a tweet from Ryan Lombardi, vice president for Student Affairs.
“I’ve never been so happy before. I put in a lot of hard work into this, as well as my ticket, and I’m extremely excited to be leader of this organization next year,” Southall said. “I’ve never felt so incredible in my life.”
His first move will be to meet the Ohio University Board of Trustees on Friday, when the Board will be voting on increasing OU’s tuition by 1.6 percent.
VOICE’s victory marks the fourth straight time the ticket with the most current senate members has won.
Anna Morton, VOICE’s vice-presidential candidate, received 1,305 votes, and Austin LaForest, VOICE’s treasurer candidate, received 1,347 votes.
Of the 31 senator positions, VOICE only lost the Honors Tutorial College seat to Allie Dyer, a write-in candidate who supported F.U.S.S.
“We’re really proud of what we did. I hope our opponents appreciate that we gave them an opposition,” Farmer said. “We raised issues. More people know what’s going on now.”
Farmer said his ticket — comprising vice-presidential candidate Jacob Chaffin and treasurer candidate Rebekah Rittenberg — will continue to advocate for and organize students on campus.
“I can’t believe I was standing here just a year ago doing the same thing,” said Zach George, senate’s outgoing president. “I wish them nothing but the best. … I have no doubt that it will be an outstanding Student Senate this coming year.”
— Xander Zellner and Danielle Keeton-Olsen contributed to this article.
dd195710@ohiou.edu
