The Student Government election results were revealed Tuesday night. The race for student body president and student body vice president resulted in a run-off between Cody Long and running mate Mitchell Moravec, and Paul Nolan and running mate Brayndon Stafford. The duos beat out three other tickets: Nate Bridgers and running mate Hayes Griggs; Rye Robinson and running mate Jotionette “JJ” Jones; and Harrison Preddy and running mate Caroline Moody.
The voting period will re-open Thursday at 8 a.m. and end 8 p.m. that evening.
Run-offs occur when no candidate receives a voting count of more than 40 percent, a fairly common trend in Student Government. This leaves the candidates in limbo for the two days after the elections open.
The rules for the run-off are clear: Candidates have their campaign time extended until the run-off and the election will take place two days after the initial reveal. There will also be a debate between the candidates tomorrow at 5:30 p.m.
All four of the candidates were grateful of how far their respective campaigns had come. The candidates expressed how they had come this far and are ready to tackle the next two days.
Nolan and Stafford expressed how hard they have worked and how grateful they are to the students of NC State for getting them this far.
“We are very happy. It’s a blessing to be able to be here,” said Stafford, a junior studying environmental sciences. “It doesn’t stop here.”
Long and Moravec stressed how important it is for students to be informed while voting.
“Please, please be informed on the issues involved when voting,” said Long, a junior studying political science. “There are a lot of issues being discussed, and it is important to understand what is being talked about.”
Long said that since his campaign came out slightly on top by 13 votes, he has a little more momentum than the opposing candidates moving forward. He also said that now that this race is between two presidential candidates, the debating between them will be more intense.
“Now that this is a two-horse race, it will be better to debate one-on-one to pitch ideas better and more clearly,” Long said.
When asked how their campaigning would differ than the past week over the next two days, both candidates gave similar answers.
Nolan and Stafford discussed how they have to be very active and vocal in their campaigning just like they have this past week.
“We have to get out there in those places and get out in the Brickyard and get supporters,” Stafford said. “If that means we don’t sleep, then we don’t sleep.”
Long explained that he will continue to campaign very hard just as he has done over the past few days in order to gain support.
“The campaigning worked the first time around, and it’s going to work the second time around,” Long said.
All in all, both sets of candidates said they are thankful for having proven they are good picks for office.
“I want to thank our supporters, especially those voters who I barely know or don’t know at all, and I want to thank God for blessing us with coming this far,” Stafford said.
Long also expressed his thanks.
“My campaign team and my running mate are the best I could ask for — I want to thank them especially,” Long said.
A town hall debate between the Long/Moravec and Nolan/Stafford candidates is scheduled to take place at 5:30 p.m. today in the Talley Mountains Ballroom.
The run-off voting period opens Thursday at 8 a.m. and closes Thursday at 8 p.m.
Cody Long, a junior studying political science, hugs Amanda Cannon, a senior studying business administration, after the announcing of the election results on Tuesday.
