Students can vote today for Student Government Association executive president in a runoff between Adam Andrade and Ty Kelley.
After voting closed Friday, no candidate had received a majority of the votes so the SGA Constitution bylaws require a runoff. In an email to candidates sent Friday evening, current president Danny Burke said the runoff would be between the two candidates with the most votes, Julia Kennedy and Ty Kelley. Andrade had received 16.46 percent of the votes, while Kelley had received 45.62 percent and Kennedy had received 37.92 percent of the total votes.
Kennedy said Sunday night that she would no longer be running for the office.
“Thank you for supporting me in all the endeavors I have pursued, but I think it’s time I started pursuing something I was meant to do,” Kennedy wrote on her personal Instagram Sunday night. “I wish my opponents the best as they enter this extremely difficult position.”
Kennedy’s running mate, Madeline Dayton, lost the election for vice president to Rachel Jones, Kelley’s running mate.
“I am deeply saddened and disappointed by our student body and fact that they did not elect such a qualified and passionate leader such as Madeline Dayton,” Kennedy said in the Instagram post.
Burke said he worked with elections chair Kevin Shurtz to decide how to proceed with the runoff after Kennedy dropped out. Burke said the executive president must still receive a majority of the votes to win but there was no precedent or bylaw in the Constitution for a candidate dropping out of the runoff. Burke said Shurtz and the executive decided to let the student body decide between Andrade and Kelley.
Voting is open until 8 p.m. tonight here.