New SA executive officers announced

By Felix Sarver

The new Student Association executive officers have been decided.

Delonte LeFlore will be president, Gina Gregolunas will be vice president, Joshua Venaas will be treasurer and Elliot Echols will be student trustee. All four ran on the same ticket. Derek Koegel, who ran for president, and Rachel Wilkins, who ran for vice president on the same ticket as Koegel, lost. Jack Barry, who ran for treasurer, also lost.

“I feel relieved,” LeFlore said. “Campaigning was very hard, very stressful, but it was fun. I was able to meet a lot of people. Now it’s time to focus on grades.”

LeFlore said running on the same ticket with three other candidates helped his campaign, as did support from over 40 volunteers. Some people donated money to help purchase big signs. LeFlore and his candidates also used social networking and met with student organizations as part of their campaign.

Koegel said he was disappointed he received more or less the same amount of votes this year despite campaigning harder than last year for president. His campaign had people handing out handbills in the MLK Commons and meeting with organizations like the Residence Hall Association and PRISM.

“I don’t know what it is,” Koegel said. “I guess our people didn’t come out and vote.”

Koegel said he felt LeFlore’s team had a larger budget than his campaign. LeFlore’s team had nicer handbills and more people helping, he said. LeFlore’s team also had the advantage of running on a full ticket.

“All of those people are already established in the Student Association,” he said.

Both LeFlore and Venaas said their next step is to transition into their new roles.

SA and Campus Activities Board (CAB) elections had a lower voter turnout than years past, with a turnout of about 750. In 2011, the voter turnout was 1,189 and in 2010 the turnout was 1,611.

Elections Commissioner Jasmine Harvell said the voter turnout could have been better given the size of NIU. Brandon Grosz, chair of the Board of Elections, said he was still happy with the results.

“I heard the Rec Center had double of what they had last year,” Grosz said. “I think that shows a great sign of students voting.”

Around 40 votes were not counted in the elections for both SA and CAB as they had write-in candidates like Mitt Romney and Mickey Mouse. Each individual ballot was inspected for proper signatures and other details before they were sent through a scantron. Representatives from each campaign, the Board of Elections and CAB election officials were present at the vote count.

Venaas said he was disappointed with the voter turnout and wants to increase awareness of the elections next year. Koegel said voting needs to be done online rather than have people go to different parts on campus to vote.

LeFlore’s campaign appealed a second sanction for having handbills near a polling station Wednesday. LeFlore said the handbills were out of his control since students carried them everywhere.