Kate Christobek and Pete Steele jumped from their seats last night and celebrated when the fourth-, third- and second-place finishers in the Undergraduate Student Government presidential race were announced.
Christobek and Steele were the only team left and knew they were the new president and vice-president, respectively.
Christobek and Steele beat out Jim Fondriest and Katie Krajny by more than 1,000 votes, said Matt Couch, USG adviser.
“I can’t describe the way I feel right now. It’s amazing,” Steele said, his eyes brimming with tears.
Fondriest and Krajny walked away with 33 percent of the vote, which Fondriest said was disappointing.
“We gave it all we had and that’s something we can take from this experience,” Krajny said. “It was definitely a positive experience for us.”
Luke Brewer and Dan Kavouras finished in third, with Jacob Larger and Kat Grossklaus fourth.
“The Brewer/Kavouras team and Larger/Grossklaus team would like to issue a joint statement that the real losers here are the undergraduate students,” Grossklaus said.
This year’s campaign had markedly less violations than last year’s, Steinbrecher said. But there were problems with some candidates.
Winners Christobek and Steele were temporarily disqualified on the first day of voting because of fines accrued for posting flyers in academic buildings. They were allowed back in the race the next day.
“With the disqualification, we worked very hard to get it overturned and my team was amazing and I’m so honored to have the opportunity to be here,” Christobek said.
“We didn’t have one violation filed against us and I think it’s interesting that the team with the most violations came in first and the one with the least finished last,” Grossklaus said.
Greg Oden and Mike Conley, Jr. were the two most popular write-in candidates, Couch said.
“The undergraduates have spoken. Oden and Conley need to stay one more year,” he said.
Issue 1, the vote to construct a Woody Hayes memorial, passed.
Mary Dannemiller can be reached at [email protected].
