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Sween elected
 Brett Sween
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The votes are in and Brett Sween and Desiree Westby will be SCSU's student body president and vice president next year.
Voting took place Wednesday and Thursday, leaving Sween and Westby in the top spots, after receiving 539 of the 1,149 presidential votes. Students also voted on 15 senatorial positions, as well as an amended version of the student constitution.
"I don't even know how to describe the feeling," Sween said. "It's really exciting and relieving, but the whole thing is nerveracking at the same time. Desiree and I put in a lot of work in order to get the opportunity to do a lot more work, but I think it will be worth it."
Westby echoed Sween's feelings.
"It is very exciting, and a little surprising," she said. "There will be a lot of work to do, but we will be ready for it."
Other than to meet with newly elected senators and the administrators, the pair said they had no immediate plans in order to get things rolling.
"We're going to get the office organized and ready to go, and meet with the senators," Sween said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to hit the ground running (next fall)."
Sween also feels confident that his administration will be able to work with the newly formed Greek Party, which will be well represented in the Senate.
"I think that the Greek Party was mainly an organizational tool to help through the election process," Sween said. "I don't think that there will be partisan opposition to things. We are all students, and we will deal with student issues. I don't think it will create a divide."
Dan Martinez and Gordie Loewen finished second at the polls, garnering 416 votes. Martinez said that he was happy at the turnout, and noted that he would continue to work for the organizations that supported him.
"If you had told me 420 people would vote for us, I would have told you we would have won for sure," Martinez said. "There was just a really large turnout, and Desiree and Brett ran a good campaign. I'm just glad we got 420 people to come out and vote."
Martinez said he is considering getting back into the Senate next year, and that he hopes Sween and Westby can "stay progressive, and not get stagnant."
Dan Johnson and Brad Carlson, representing the newly formed Greek Party, received 194 votes. Johnson said he is unsure of what role he will take in student government next year. He said that whatever role he takes next year, he will adamantly support the equality in funding for student organizations, which was a part of his campaign.
"I was very disappointed in the way the election committee handled the campaign," Johnson said. "The other two tickets came from within Student Government, and we were not a part of Student Government. I think that we were left out of the loop on a lot of things."
Johnson added that Sween and Westby's election signalled a movement towards pandering to special interest groups, and that no change would take place under their administration. He also added that certain improper practices within the Finance Committee need to be addressed next year.
Six of the 15 senators elected ran on the Greek Party ticket. Johnson said that even though he and Carlson did not win the presidency, the election symbolized a good start for the Greek Party.
"The Greek Party was not formed to elect me and Brad. It was formed to represent student interests," he said. "I think that we had a strong showing and that the six senators will get the ball rolling."
The student body will find out this week whether or not the amended student constitution will be ratified. Current Student Government vice president, and Election Committee chair, Danielle Grabowski, said her committee will meet this week to interpret the voting results.
"We are going to meet to interpret the constitution," she said. "To be changed, the constitution needs eight percent of the student body to vote on it, with a majority of that eight percent supporting the change."
Grabowski's committee will be deciding whether those voters who abstained from voting on the constitution will be counted as voting against, or not at all. She said she hopes to have a decision by this week.
Jake Zisla can be reached at: [email protected]
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