Destiny Hosmer
Staff Writer
After a record number of votes, Olivia Melton, Andrew Dearing, Darunda Wilkins, and Farrah Gaston have been elected to serve on the 2016-2017 Student Government Association executive board.
Caitlin Smith and Sam Moody tied for the position of Vice President of Campus Activities, as none of the four candidates running secured a majority vote.
SGA election regulations require a candidate obtain more than 50 percent of the votes to win.
A runoff election will be held next week.
1,218 students voted this year, surpassing last year’s 834 and creating a record for highest voter turnout in Troy’s SGA history.
However, that number accounts for only 18.66 percent of the total students who could have cast their votes.
With 68.93 percent of the votes, Melton was elected as SGA President.
“I went into this race expecting to give 110 percent, and I knew as long as I did that I couldn’t regret anything,” Melton said. “I am overwhelmed with appreciation for the students who came out to vote.
“I’m going to work diligently to make sure that my goals are achieved.”
Dearing was elected as Vice President of Legislative Affairs after receiving 55.07 percent of the votes, Wilkins was chosen as Director of Representation with 53.28 percent, and Gaston secured the Director of Administration position with 56.95 percent.
Smith said that she is excited for next week’s runoff vote and she plans to reach out to students even more.
“I knew there would probably be a runoff vote since there were four candidates, so I’m really excited to find out that I made it, as well as another great candidate,” Smith said. “I’m going to continue talking to students and produce more campaign material. I want to use the extra time to really focus on other people.”
Moody was unavailable for a comment by the time this paper went to print.
The runoff election for VPCA will be held in the SGA Office from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2.
Student ID is required to vote.