News

Harris, Gatcombe win Student Government elections

Posted on Nov. 13, 2009, at 12:28 p.m.

Brian Harris won the University of Maine Student Government presidency Friday with 832 votes, according to preliminary results. Nyssa Gatcombe won the vice presidency with 1,375 votes, surpassing Timothy Smith, who had 817.

Zachary Jackman came in a close second for president with 828 votes. The election results were unclear Thursday evening after the names on six sealed ballots did not coincide with the names of all students enrolled at UMaine provided by Student Records. The Fair Election Practices Commission confirmed Friday the ballots were from eligible voters, elucidating the results.

Current Vice President Ross Wolland, who ran for president, received 521 votes.

“The biggest thing that was on my platform that I’ll be working most on is just educating students about what Student Government is doing,” Harris said Friday. He said he will lead by example and try to get students involved, “especially the students that disagree with us and disagree with what Student Government’s doing and think we’re a bunch of political science majors who are trying to pad our résumés.”

Harris said he will encourage students with negative or apathetic views of Student Government to come to him to work out a compromise on issues instead of working separately.

UMaine saw a record turnout this year with 2,461 students voting — 1,351 people voted last year.

Harris said he wants to continue the current administration’s efforts, such as Wolland’s efforts to lower dining prices and increase variety in the Marketplace. Harris said it’s important to keep those efforts going so Student Government doesn’t lose any ground as it transitions to a new president and vice president.

Harris said he had no plans for replacing any SG executives once he comes into office.

“The executives that we have on board right now have done a great job,” Harris said.

Harris hopes to charge senators with getting more students involved with Student Government and may have them report on the number of people they talk to each month.

“I haven’t thought completely of how I’m going to get the senators specifically to do that, other than charging them and holding them accountable for their actions,” Harris said.

Harris and Jackman were both unwilling to comment Thursday before the remaining six votes were counted, but Jackman congratulated Harris for winning.

Gatcombe said the campaign was fun and she looks forward to working with Harris.

“I’m definitely going to meet with all of the former vice presidents,” Gatcombe said Thursday. “I’m working on getting in touch with Bill Pomerleau, because apparently he used to run 45-minute senate meetings, and I want to know how the heck that’s possible.”

Harris worked with Gatcombe on their class council during the past year, and he hopes to form a strong bond with her and to help her try to run senate efficiently.

Harris said he will try to connect with the university administration a lot during his time as president and hopes to have a positive relationship with President Robert Kennedy and the vice presidents at UMaine.

“Honestly, I had a lot of fun with the campaign,” Jackman said. “I’m happy with the results; they’re fine. Brian won legitimately, and I’m happy for him. I think he’ll run the organization well.”

“I am really surprised at how many people voted. I think it’s awesome,” Jackman said.

Jackman will continue working as a student senator. He said he hopes to change the way elections work in later years, because they have been marred by technical problems in the past. He said he knew of a few students who had trouble voting on FirstClass this year. Jackman will be graduating May 2010 and will not run again.

Wolland was disappointed he lost, but will continue his work as vice president until he steps down in December.

“I’ll be around. I’ll figure out what my plans are. I haven’t decided yet, but I’ll be around,” said Wolland, who added he may or may not run for a senate seat.

Smith said he will remain as a student senator and the chairperson of the Policy and Procedures committee.

“It was a good campaign; I’m cool with the results. You know, students voted how they voted, and that’s how it is,” Smith said.

Smith said he will likely not run for vice president again.

“I’ll be going to law school or something like that,” Smith said.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009, 12:28 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.