DeKALB — #YouMatterNIU ticket won the 50th Student Association election.

Khiree Cross, Student Association president-elect, beat out his competition with 64 percent of the Tuesday and Wednesday vote.

Cross said there were many obstacles his ticket faced that could have been discouraging, but they continued to stay positive and fought it through the end.

“There is nothing but excitement and joy in our heart right now,” Cross said.

Devin Halicki, SA vice president-elect, said his ticket is excited to begin SA business, keep serving the NIU community and to make sure every student knows they’re important

Halicki and Cross both thanked Moving Forward NIU for participating in the election, and Cross said he hopes the two tickets could work together in the future.

“They put up a very tough fight I was very nervous about the results,” Cross said. “Hopefully we can work together in the future. There is no hard feelings.”

Cross said his first order of business is to connect with incoming first-year students because many come to NIU unaware of the campus’ student government.

He said he plans to launch #YouMatterNIU campaign, work with the administration to organize programs during opening weekend and restructure the involvement fair to make SA more visible and better-know to students.

“I want to inspire people and make them feel that they can take my spot,” Cross said.

Halicki said his role in the you matter campaign will be about developing personal relationships with the students.

“We all have the exact same mission,” Halicki said. “We are all here to have a good college experience and to make sure that we are working together to have that great experience.”

Cross said he wants the first-year students to be well educated about SA, which in turn can increase voter outcome.

He said his ultimate long-term goal is to better SA’s reputation and eventually have more than two tickets running for the next election, and he also wants to help reduce some of the violence occurring around DeKalb.

“I want to connect the bridge of NIU and DeKalb community and show everyone that if we work together that DeKalb can be a great place to live,” Cross said.

Special election

The Student Association Senate will hold a special election April 3 to reach its necessary quorum.

The Senate requires a 21-senator quorum but 10 senators ran during the spring election.

Senator petitions with signatures are due by 4:30 p.m. April 2 and the ballot will posted that day.