By Kelsi Peace, Managing Editor
Students’ Association President-elect Daniel Paul Watkins hit the ground running Wednesday night, calling for a late-night meeting with his new Cabinet after the candidates and the elections committee met at 11:30 p.m.
“I think we should start with a bang,” said Watkins, junior political science major from Fredricksberg, Va.
Watkins, who opposed David Vanderpool, sophomore Biblical text major from Brentwood, Tenn., in the only contested race of the SA elections this year, said he passed time waiting for results by eating out with friends and trying to avoid thinking about the elections.
The results came in early Wednesday evening, thanks to the low voter turnout – a mere 874 votes compared to last year’s 1,307. Watkins took the election with 518 votes to Vanderpool’s 352, garnering a 59.5 percent majority.
“I know that I’m student body president- elect,” said Watkins just a few hours after the results came in. “But it hasn’t sunk it yet. I’m really tired. When I wake up, I’ll probably be on cloud nine.”
The only contested race remained friendly to the end, with a congratulatory phone call coming from Vanderpool just moments after he heard the results.
“I feel like I ran the best campaign possible,” Vanderpool said. “I did my best.”
Election co-chairs Nathan McKenzie, senior political science major from Albuquerque, N.M., and Madison Saniuk, senior political science major from Arlington, both named lower enrollment numbers and a sole contested race as culprits for the low turnout.
“The more competitive the election is, the more likely people are to turn out and vote for it,” Saniuk said. “And that really kind of played out here.”
Voters also gave a clear mandate to SA: create a permanent chaplain position.
SA Congress created a temporary position this semester, which McKenzie currently fills. With 618 of the 770 votes cast supporting the permanent position, the next step is for Congress to ratifying the amendment to the SA Constitution.
Otherwise, the election was standard.
“I think everybody worked hard and ran a really good race,” Saniuk said. “It’s kind of an average election.”
The only surprise came from the vice presidential race, when Charles Gaines, sophomore social justice major from Cedar Hill, dropped out of the race Sunday.
McKenzie and Saniuk did not comment, and Gaines told the student body in Chapel on Wednesday that he chose to run in the student body’s interest, and “it was in that same student body’s best interest that I withdrew.”
Gaines’ late drop out left Sarah Pulis, junior political science major from Longview, vice-president-elect, which didn’t stop her from getting campaign jitters, she said. However, Pulis decided to participate in campaigning to share her vision for SA with the student body.
Spencer Hemphill, treasurer- elect, also opted to campaign though unopposed.
“I feel like it’s appropriate,” Hemphill said. “People need to know who’s running because they need to know who to come to.”
All three elected officers said they plan to spend time in Abilene this summer networking with administrators and learning the finer details of their new positions.
“I know at the debates I came off as kind of supercilious and conceited,” Watkins said. “But I guess people are ready for a different kind of politics.”
Watkins displayed his different approach to politics when he stepped down from the stage during his speech on Wednesday and wandered around the floor with two live ducks, talking to students about companionship.
“On the stage, I didn’t feel comfortable,” he said. “I didn’t feel like I was engaging people.”
Now president-elect, Watkins has plans to assemble the rest of the Cabinet quickly, with the help of Pulis and Hemphill. And by the end of next week, he said he plans to have met with both Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president of Student Life, and Dr. Jeff Arrington, associate dean of Campus Life.
“ACU’s on the edge of a huge change,” Watkins said, citing the upcoming iPhone initiative and Bean renovation. “[My plans are] having those conversations and trying to make it a little better for the next students who come through.”
-SA ELECTION RESULTS-
There were 874 ballots cast in this year’s Students’ Association elections. In addition to electing Daniel Paul Watkins as president, Sarah Pulis as vice president and Spencer Hemphill as treasurer, the student body approved an amendment to the SA Constitution to create the position of chaplain.
President
* Daniel Paul Watkins: 581 votes (59.5 percent)
* David Vanderpool: 352 votes (40.5 percent)
Vice President
* Sarah Pulis: 619 votes (100 percent)
Treasurer
* Spencer Hemphill: 640 votes (100 percent)
Chaplain’s amendment
* Votes for amendment: 681
* Votes against amendment: 152
