The Steven Cole-Anjali Martin ticket won the Student Government presidential race with 40 percent of votes cast; 931 of the 2,323 votes cast in this election.
Cole, the current vice president of student government, said he pledges to make student life at EMU better.
“I believe that all Eastern students, whether they voted for me, or one of my opponents, or didn't vote at all, deserve good representation in student government,” Cole said. “My decision to run for student body president was because I thought I could do a good job as president.”
Sabrina Ford and Gabriel Stephen received 32 percent of the votes. Aimee Frey and Joseph Pernicano received 14 percent and Jessica Howell and Sam Moravec received 13 percent.
Martin, current director of media relations and vice president elect, said she and Cole are honored.
“We really do want to put the students first and we do want to make their voice our priority,” she said. “That was something that we stressed throughout the campaign and we will continue to stress as we go forward.
Martin said she and Cole look forward to working with the other candidates in the coming school year.
“We also want to congratulate all the other candidates,” she said. “A lot of them had some really good ideas and we look forward to working with them and collaborating with them on some of those ideas in the future.”
Senator John McAllister said Cole was a worthy candidate.
“I think everyone up there could have done an excellent job,” he said. “But I think with Steven’s prior knowledge of being on the Executive Board, he’s going to take this position and he’s going to run with it. He’s going to do an excellent job with it.”
Judicial Sergeant David Konarske said he thought the results would be closer than they were.
“I’m kind of disappointed it wasn't more competitive,” he said. “But I think everyone tried hard and I think Steven will do a great job.”
Current student body president Desmond Miller said he was pleased with the election results and is optimistic about the coming school year.
“I’ve had the chance to get to know Steven since his freshman year, and he’s really grown not only as a leader but as a student advocate on campus,” he said.
Senators for the 2015-16 school year are: Nora Saled, Ilkhomjon Amanov, Evan Sweet, Joshua Starr, Brianna Moore, MaYa Rich, Nathaniel Pyle, Aron Sandler, John McAllister, Bekhzodkhon Buzrukov, Kiera Fegan, Arthur Arshad and Mike Gee, who was a write-in.
Starr said he is looking forward to working with all the new senators, the president, and the vice president.
“It’s going to be a good year next year,” he said.
Voting was down this year from the 3,063 votes cast in the 2014-15 election.
The student government will continue as usual until Cole takes over April 27. Miller will face his impeachment hearing April 7 at 8 p.m. in the Student Center.
