UVUSA election results

Carrie Laudie

March 4, 2015

schedule 3 min read
Photo by Brooke Morrill

Carrie Laudie | News Editor | @carrielaudie

Photos by: Brooke Morrill | Photo Director | @brookemorrill

 

On Wednesday, March 4 at 6:00 p.m. student body officers, for the 2015-2016 school year were announced in the UVUSA council chambers. In a close race, Team One swept the election, filling all of the positions that were campaigned for.

Dylan Swarts will be the new Student Body President, receiving 1,934 votes. Swarts’ opponent, Mike Wade, received 1,372 votes.

“We just want to thank everyone for all the support throughout this campaign the last six months, and we promise to do exactly what we said, to advocate and fight for the students. We love UVU and we promise to serve you to our best ability. Thank you to everyone who voted and who helped support us,” said Swarts.

Phil Varney will be the new student body executive vice president, receiving 1,855 votes. Varney’s opponent, Cristobal Villegas, received 1,455 votes. Matt Robbins will be the new student body vice president for academics, receiving 1,897 votes. Robbins’ opponent, Teresa Wilson, received 1,377 votes. Jake Larson will be the new student body vice president for student life and activities receiving 1,975 votes. Larson’s opponent, Haelly Kirk, received 1,317 votes.

The position of student body vice president for clubs was a position elected by the presidents of various clubs on campus. There were 160 clubs eligible to vote and of that 83 cast a ballot, with 52 percent of clubs voting, Kylie McGill will fill that position. McGill received 45 votes and her opponent, Korey Sutton, received 37 votes.

The number of students eligible to vote was 24,339, and the total number of ballots cast were 3,508, constituting 14.41 percent of the eligible students. To be able to vote a student had to be enrolled in at least a one credit class.

It was an emotional announcement and Team One burst into tears. When the election results were announced Varney, next year’s executive vice president, went into mild shock and lost control of his hands for a short time.

According to Swarts, he started strategizing last May for the campaign. He approached the first person to join the team in August and by November the team was set.

Team One and Team Up had different strategies for their campaigns. According to Tyler Brklacich, current student body president, Team One spent the majority of their budget on marketing and advertising, while Team Up spent the majority of their budget on food to hand out to students. Each team came in under budget by a few dollars, but specific numbers were not able to be released.