All three of senate’s newly elected executives hold seats within the current Student Senate body this academic year.
Ohio University students overwhelmingly elected candidates from the UNITE ticket in this year’s Student Senate election.
UNITE candidates were elected to all three executive positions. Hannah Clouser was elected president, Courteney Muhl was elected vice president and Steve Lichtenfels was elected treasurer.
Candidates on the UNITE ticket won all but two of the 39 total seats in the election. The opposing ticket, Impact, won the other two.
Student Senate’s Board of Elections announced results Wednesday night in the Bobcat Student Lounge more than two hours after voting ended at 7 p.m.
“It was what we had hoped, but now it’s confirmed and I’m really excited,” Clouser said. “(We) didn’t know what to expect, but we swept every single positionwe had someone in. That feeling is incredible that the students believed so much in us and our work and this amazing thing that we’ve done.”
A total of 2,097 students voted in this year’s election, compared to the 3,250 students who voted in last year’s election, according to senate’s Board of Elections.
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Clouser serves as treasurer, Muhl serves as the College of Health Sciences and Professions senator and Lichtenfels serves as a Senate Appropriations Commission senator.
“I’m very proud of my team,” Muhl said. “They all worked very hard to see this campaign through and to really show the student body they are excited to serve them.”
Clouser defeated her presidential opponent on the Impact ticket, Jordan Kelley, by over 1,000 votes.
“I’m disappointed, but life goes on,” Kelley said. “No matter what, I’m really proud of my team and all of the things that we’ve accomplished (and) all the questions we raised.”
Kelley added that he knows Impact candidates will go on to do great things, whether inside or outside of senate.
“I think I would have been happy with who ever was in office,” Gabby Bacha, current senate president, said. “I really encourage people in Impact to still join senate even if they did not win. ... I think everyone’s passion and drive shows that they all deserve to be here.”
Clouser said she respects the Impact ticket and hopes to work with some of its candidates next year.
Jenny Hall-Jones, dean of students and interim vice president for Student Affairs, said she has had experience working with Lichtenfels and Muhl in the past.
“These are three really great leaders on campus and I am happy for them,” Hall-Jones said.
In addition to the candidates elected, students voted to approve three amendments to senate’s constitution.
The amendments were to update the constitution to say semesters instead of quarters, to establish a referenda system and to create a judicial panel. The judicial panel would consist of nine justices and would function independently of senate.
“This judicial panel is huge too,” Clouser said. “(I’m) so excited about that as well.”
The senate has not proposed a constitutional amendment since 1994, according to the Board of Elections.
Voting lasted from 8 a.m. Tuesday to 7 p.m. Wednesday, though a glitch in the the voting system was pointed out to the Board of Elections on Wednesday morning.
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At most, 116 votes may have been affected by a glitch that caused the order of names appearing on the ballot to shift, according to a previous Post report.
“I was a little nervous this afternoon when we found out about the hiccup, but it ended up being a small amount that it did not impact the election,” Hall-Jones said.
Kate Clausen, the vice chair of the Board of Elections, said she thinks the glitch was solved responsibly.
Clouser said the next step for the UNITE ticket is to go through its platform and develop its goals further.
“(I’m feeling) ready,” Clouser said. “Ready to go into Student Senate next year and just make it the best year it can be.”
— Maygan Beeler contributed to this report
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