The Campus Student Elections Commission unofficially announced the winners of the spring 2013 election Thursday.
As of these unofficial counts, all available referendums passed on this year’s ballot, including the $25-per-semester Assembly Hall renovation fee, which is planned to finance 17 percent of renovations on the building.
The results of a question asking whether students support Chief Illiniwek as the official symbol of the University are being withheld, pending a Moot Court Board Judiciary case. The case centers on the constitutionality of a resolution passed by the Illinois Student Senate that enabled a symbol selection survey in mid-January. If the resolution is deemed unconstitutional, the results of the survey will not be released. The results of the Chief Illiniwek referenda question will be released regardless of the court’s ruling.
The judiciary hearing will take place Wednesday.
The unofficial counts also indicate that Mike Cunningham, junior in LAS, will be elected to the office of student trustee with 2,345 votes.
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Cunningham earned 169 more votes than his closest contender, Brian Siegel, junior in Media and former Illini Media employee.
“I can’t explain how excited I am,” Cunningham said. “I’m looking forward to speaking with (the other candidates), and I am actually setting up a meeting with them … to really just see how we can work together to address the issues we have.”
He said that he has a few initiatives he would like to pursue during his term, such as making student fees refundable again and releasing a more broken-down statement of the fees.
He said that during his first few months in office, he will talk to all of the RSOs on campus to see where their main concerns lie.
He is also interested in establishing a joint police explorers program between the University, Champaign and Urbana police departments for 15- to 24-year-old aspiring law officials.
“Through that, they can be an extra set of eyes and ears on campus,” Cunningham said.
Following Siegel, Ryan Gleason, junior in LAS, received 1,259 votes. Carey Ash, write-in candidate and graduate student senator, received 940 votes and was trailed by LaDarius DuPree, junior in LAS, and Shao Guo, vice president-internal of the Illinois Student Senate, who received 762 and 597 votes respectively.
Ash was denied a spot on the ballot by the University after Kenneth Ballom, dean of students, told Ash he did not meet the University’s in-state residency requirements, which require him to be employed in Illinois and excludes his current graduate assistantship as qualification. Ash is recognized as a resident by the state by Illinois, which is required by state law for student trustee candidacy.
According to the CSEC website, election results may be subject to change before the official results are certified at about 4 p.m. Monday.
Tyler can be reached at [email protected].
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article that ran in the March 8 issue incorrectly stated that the Chief Illiniwek referenda results would not be released if the Moot Court deemed the Illinois Student Senate resolution unconstitutional. The results will be released regardless of the court’s ruling. The Daily Illini regrets this error.
