despite low turnout
by Sunny Astorga
Staff Writer
A few candidates still emerged victorious in the Residence Halls Association elections despite a voter turnout of 203, or about 9 percent of residents, said RHA president Andrew Becker. The unofficial results were announced Wednesday night.
Becker said, "Turnout could always be better. Last year it was 115. It is a good source of progress."
Becker will step down as RHA president and Jennifer Watson, junior political science major, will take over.
Watson, who ran unopposed for president of RHA, won 86.6 percent of the vote. The remainder was shared by 11 write-ins.
"I'm excited. There are a lot of things I want to accomplish. I want to get more people involved," Watson said.
The most competitive race was between Katie Strohl, a UH University Studies freshman, and Adam Taylor, a freshman physics major, for the position of vice president of administration.
Strohl won 92 votes, or 48.7 percent of the vote, while Taylor received 86 votes, or 44.5 percent.
The closeness of the race motivated Taylor to demand a recount.
"I feel I campaigned a lot harder than she did. I just wonder how I lost by six votes," Taylor said.
Quad Heinicken ran unopposed for vice president of programming and ran away with 95.8 percent. Besides getting more residents involved in RHA, Heinicken said, once residents are involved, he wants to improve their retention.
Kelly Ross and Nikki Royal won in unopposed races for Hall Council president of Moody Towers and Cougar Place, respectively.
The Quadrangle Hall Council president position was voted strictly by write-ins. Jose de la Garza received most of the vote with 32.1 percent.
However, a run-off will be necessary between de la Garza and Ronetta Williams, who received 17.9 percent, since neither received at least 40 percent of the vote.