 "Photo: N/A")
 "Photo: Photos courtesy of Emily Kinsolving; The Daily Texan")
With a record-setting voter turnout, Liam O’Rourke was elected student body president Wednesday, beating Phillip Tau by nearly 4,000 votes. Zak Kinnaird came in third with about 8 percent of the votes.
More than 10,000 UT students cast their ballots in the first election since the ticket system was abolished. The 2004 election, the first year voting took place online, was the only SG election in history that had a higher percentage of student participation.
“Tonight was so important, because we proved that the new election code works,” said Natalie Butler, a Plan II and political communication junior and O’Rourke supporter. “We proved that people with experience can reach out to people who’ve never voted before.”
Without a ticket to run under, each candidate had to manage his own finances. Executive alliances, comprised of a presidential candidate and a vice presidential running mate, had a spending limit of $900.
“With a lower budget than with the ticket system, it’s about the candidates as people and their qualifications, not about who has a trust fund,” said finance senior William Hotze.
O’Rourke, a history senior, and his running mate Shara Ma, a marketing senior, spent $867, which O’Rourke said he raised from his uncles and family friends.
“The money spent in campaigning this year only gets you so far,” O’Rourke said. “You have to really utilize your networks and work hard. Nine hundred bucks isn’t going to win you a campaign.”
Marketing junior Phillip Tau and his running mate Sarah Stearns, an English junior, spent $579, all of which was donated to them by Texas Revolution, a student organization supporting reforms to Student Government.
Living up to his campaign promises, Zak Kinnaird, a chemistry senior, did not personally spend any money on his campaign. He did not steal flyers either, despite what he claimed at the beginning of the campaign.
At least six of the eight candidates elected University-wide representatives spent more than $200; their spending limit was $550. Asian American studies and biology junior Jason Wang, who received 32 percent of the vote, did not spend any money on his campaign. Latin American studies junior Carley Castetter spent the most money among those running for University-wide representative with $519 and came in eighth place.
“It’s a small amount of spending to reach a large amount of voters, so you really have to use your money in a clever way in order to get the most bang for your buck,” said University-wide representative-elect Jimmy Talarico, a government
junior.
Talarico spent $481 and received 32 percent of the vote.
“With any campaign there is some publicity outside of word of mouth that you have to buy,” said Minator Azemi, who was also elected a University-wide representative. “We’ve witnessed how important technology and outreach is. That extends well beyond word of mouth and that requires some sort of funding.”
Azemi, a communication studies and government junior, spent $411 and received 43 percent of the vote, second only to Plan II junior Justin Stein.
“This is my happiest day at UT,” Azemi said. “It’s the best day of my college career thus far.”
Audrey Campbell, a journalism senior, was elected The Daily Texan editor-in-chief and spent less than $50 — about $20 on cookies and brownies and $28 on flyers.
“My campaign style is just different, less aggressive,” she said. “I wanted to make sure people were making their own decision.”
It is an organization dedicated to producing one-to-one friendships between people with disabilities, and people without disablities. He is dedicated to awareness about people with disablities and making sure they are equals in this society. Congrats Liam.
Much like Tau and Stearns who weren't even a close second behind Liam and Shara. Despite all the press Tau received for breaking the election code, he still was destroyed by over 4000 votes.
Congrats Liam and Shara, the only qualified and serious candidates.
HA! Hardly! The status quo continues! The establishment lives on! Who won the presidency? The candidate who spent the most money of course! I applaud Mr. Kinnaird for spending ZERO dollars and still winning the hearts and minds of 8% of voters. He is the true winner here.
She wasn't endorsed by the Texan, and she didn't spend money campaigning.
Looks like students were able to read her campaign platform, think for themselvs, and vote independently.
It is a huge upset for the establishment. This article just calls it a 'narrow victory', when in reality it's grand.