Cardinal Connection: 1,441 votes
Empower: 1,360 votes
Abstain: 70 votes
Difference: 81 votes
Tensions were high after two and a half hours of waiting for election results, when Cardinal Connection finally got the call saying they won the Student Government Association election.
When the slate becomes the executive board at the end of April, Nick Wilkey will serve as president, Carli Hendershot as vice president, Rahissa Engle as secretary and Sidney Staples as treasurer.
The close victory, with a difference of 81 votes, came after a meeting of the elections board that delayed the announcement of results and ended in a last-minute, maximum fine of $400 for Cardinal Connection.
The winning group had violated a rule in the elections code that prohibits slates from using university computing services to campaign within 24 hours of the election, said Alex Sventeckis, elections board chairman.
Wilkey sent an email to Ball State University Dance Marathon committee members Monday afternoon, which is in violation of the elections code. However, Sventeckis declined to confirm that this was the specific violation.
Wilkey was “shaken” when he learned that the email he sent was a violation Tuesday evening.
“It’s not the best feeling in the world,” he said. “We didn’t do it intentionally. We didn’t know it was a rule.“
In the email, Wilkey stressed his contributions to Dance Marathon through a golf-outing event and volunteering his disc jockey services. The email also gave students instructions on how to vote.
Sventeckis said it is unlikely the board will confirm the specific violation, but it may be passed to the judiciary court after the elections board disbands Friday.
There were concerns about the authority of the elections board to deal with the situation based on the elections code.
“We’ve done everything we can with the elections code given to us,” Sventeckis said.
Wilkey said people who wanted Empower to win are probably upset by the violation.
“Other than [the violation], I think we’ll be able to patch over it and get back,” he said.
Engle said the win felt “unreal.”
“It still hasn’t set in yet, it’s exciting,” she said. “I’ve cried like three times. It’s good to know that students believed in us because we believed in them.”
Cardinal Connection beat Empower, which included presidential candidate Jes Wade, vice presidential candidate Gabrielle Bunn, secretarial candidate Bekki Kimani and treasurer candidate Connor Saum.
Saum said campaigning was a great experience, though he wished it ended differently.
“Whenever you go into something like this, you expect to win,” he said.
Saum said his slate hopes to work with Cardinal Connection to make some of Empower’s platform points possible, even though he lost the election.
The election saw a 42.4 percent decrease in voting from last year’s election, where 4,985 people voted.
The decrease in votes was attributed to changes to the elections code implemented in January, a section of which barred candidates from providing students with electronic devices, such as tablets, to vote.
Sventeckis said slates had to work harder for the votes they received this year.
“I believe that’s helped students focus more on the issues and take the time to research the platforms the slates brought to make a better, more informed decision,” he said.
Engle said now that the campaign is over, her slate will get to work on their 24-hour library and food pantry points right away.
Hendershot said after the drawn-out evening of waiting, she feels amazing.
“It was such a hard wait, and it was so nerve-racking,” she said. “I think students really believed in us and what we can do for campus.”
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