This story has been updated to reflect the most recent reporting.
The Green Light ticket overwhelmingly won the 2017-18 Student Senate elections.
Green Light candidates were elected to all three executive positions. Landen Lama was elected president, Nicole Schneider was elected vice president and Zach Woods was elected treasurer.
“I would say it’s a win for all,” Lama said.
The Green Light ticket won 34 of the 39 seats in the election. Voice won the other five seats.
The results of the Senate elections were announced Tuesday night at the Bobcat Student Lounge. Voting lasted from Monday at 8 a.m. to Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Green Light’s overall goals include achieving greater transparency, collaborating with other organizations on campus and bettering Ohio University as a whole.
Voter turnout increased to 2,202 students, compared to last year’s 2,097 students. Current Student Senate President Hannah Clouser said she was disappointed with voter turnout.
“As always, I wish more students would turn out to vote,” Clouser said. “It’s not an OU thing, it’s a student government phenomenon everywhere that there’s a surprisingly low student turnout. Aside from that, I’m excited to transition the new team.”
In reaction to the low voter turnout, Lama said Green Light ran on getting senate’s name out there and getting involved. He said he hopes to increase senate’s voice on campus.
All three of the new executives hold seats on this year’s senate. Lama is chief of staff, Schneider is a senator at-large and Woods is a SAC senator at-large.
Green Light was competing against the Voice ticket, led by presidential candidate Jordan Kelley, vice presidential candidate Keyarah Newton and treasurer candidate Dane Hudson.
Lama defeated Kelley, who ran for president last year on the Impact ticket, by more than 700 votes.
“I’m really happy and excited for what (the Green Light ticket) plans to do,” Kelley said. “I’m obviously disappointed, though.”
Hudson enjoyed the experience he got from running for the first time in a Student Senate election.
“I talked to more people in the last 36 hours than I did this entire semester,” Hudson said. “I learned a lot from talking to these people.”
A third ticket, Fight, was disqualified Monday for neglecting to follow a portion of senate's rules and procedures. David Parkhill, presidential candidate for Fight, said he plans on appealing the judicial panel’s decision.
Woods said he achieved both of his goals: to get Green Light elected and to increase voter turnout.
“We’ve worked so hard at this the past six months,” Woods said. “It’s really gratifying.”
Schneider said she thought the conceal carry referendum, which took place in January, informed more students about Student Senate.
“Like we were saying during campaigns, we want to get more people to know about Student Senate so that we can have higher voter turnout,” Schneider said. “It’s great so many students were able to voice their opinions in this.”
With more than 6,900 students voting in the conceal carry referendum, about three times more students voted in the referendum than in this year’s senate election.
Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones said she is looking forward to working with next year’s senate.
“It’s always a nice time as we are wrapping up this year to look ahead,” Hall-Jones said. “I enjoy figuring out what (Student and Graduate Student Senate) platforms are going to be and how we can help.”
— Emily Leber and Maggie Campbell contributed to this report
