Thompson punches presidential ticket

Chandler Thompson was officially named winner in the race for Student Body president Wednesday.

Thompson, a junior in economics, will succeed Kelly Hook, current Student Body president. Thompson received 52.4 percent of the vote, according to Lindsey  Pullum , junior in political science and chair of the Elections Commission.

Thompson said her love for the University gave her the desire to run for office.

“I love N.C. State and wanted to use my commitment toward the University to its fullest potential,” Thompson said. “I am driven to make a difference and wanted to use this drive to connect students to the University.”

Kelly Cunningham, a sophomore in zoology, voted for Thompson and said she is excited to see what she will accomplish.

“I think the campus as a whole will benefit most from her plan to promote sustainability,” Cunningham said. “As conserving the environment becomes a more pressing issue, it is increasingly important that we have an environmentally-friendly campus.”

Cunningham also said she was excited about other aspects of Thompson’s platform.

“I am most excited about Chandler’s plan to keep a dining location open late and bring a fourth meal into the meal plan,” Cunningham said.

Nancy Thai, a freshman in biological sciences, supported Thompson for a slightly different reason.

“[Thompson] did a good job getting her name out there, but it wasn’t too obnoxious,” Thai said. “I have heard good things about her.”

Although Thompson had a lot of support on campus, there were some students who were not approving.

Lauren Caddick, a sophomore in art and design, was not impressed with Thompson’s campaign.

“I felt that compared to the other candidates, Chandler had the weakest platform,” Caddic said. “The things that she was running on felt frivolous and were not things that students need. Things like longer tailgates are nice, but wouldn’t we rather have a Student Body president who can hold their own in front of campus administration?”

Sophie Austin, a sophomore in biological sciences, also supported a different candidate.

“I hope that [Thompson] takes [her position] seriously and uses it for the best,” Austin said. “Hopefully she can prove to be a leader with more than just name recognition during her year in office.”

Ethan Bartlett, a junior in management, came in second with 26.6 percent of the vote. While he is disappointed he did not win, he said he is excited for Thompson.

“I know that [Thompson] loves the University with all of her heart,” Bartlett said. “Helping our school is her one true dream. Chandler will do nothing but fabulous things for N.C. State.”

Thompson said while she is excited about her new position, she still has other priorities.

“Before I take office, I plan to first work hard in my classes and stay prepared to balance school and work,” Thompson said.

Preparing applications for the executive branch and organizing next year’s goals are first on the list of things to do as Student Body president, according to Thompson.

Other student leaders elected on Tuesday were Ethan Harrelson for Student Senate president; Buddy Bryson for Student Body treasurer and Matthew Woodward for Union Activities Board president.

Harrelson, a senior in biological sciences, serves as the current Senate pro tempore. He said he believes his experience in Student Government gave him an advantage.

“My strongest asset was that I’ve been in Student Government for three years now,” Harrelson said. “I also think my campaign had very concrete ideas that students could relate to instead of just wanting to work on internal issues within student government.”

Harrelson received 52.6 percent of the vote. His closest competitor, Scott Goldsmith, received 32.4 percent of the vote.

Rachel Turner, a senior in animal science, was a supporter of Harrelson.

“I voted for Ethan because I think he did a great job of laying out his platform, and I think he will be able to positively impact the University in many ways,” Turner said.

Buddy Bryson, a junior in sociology, was re-elected to his second term. He defeated his opponent, Kyle O’Donnell, by only 136 votes.

Bryson said he looks forward to the upcoming challenges facing the University.

“Next year is going to be a challenge with the restructuring and budget cuts, but students should be assured that their representatives will be fighting beside them the entire way,” Bryson said.

Thai said she supported Bryson in part due to what she viewed as immature behavior by his opponent. As part of his campaign, O’Donnell gave out free condoms to students to encourage students to vote for him.

“I thought [O’Donnell]’s condom thing was kind of weird,” Thai said. “I don’t think that was the right message to put out as a candidate for treasurer.”

Matthew Woodward, a junior in applied sociology, was elected president of the Union Activities Board by a margin of 68.5 percent of the vote for him and 31.5 percent for his closest competitor, Khalia Braswell.

When asked why he wanted to hold the position, Woodward said he believed his leadership abilities would be beneficial to the student body.

“I really feel I can make an impact to the N.C. State community and it is that passion that motivated me to run for UAB president,” Woodward said.

According to Pullum, the Elections Commission was pleased with the overall elections processed. There were, however, a few glitches.

“Too many people logged on to the system around 12:30 a.m. and the server basically shut down,” Pullum said. “But we fixed it within an hour.”

Pullum also said Student Government is in the process of purchasing a new voting system.

The hardest part of the evening, according to Pullum, was informing the candidates that did not win.

“I was incredibly heartbroken to have to inform those who didn’t win that all the time and effort that they put into their campaigns wasn’t fruitful,” Pullum said.

According to Pullum, 20.3 percent of all eligible voters cast ballots, and 25.3 percent of all eligible undergraduates cast ballots. Pullum said that this turnout was similar to turnout in years past.