Student Government confirms runoff
The race for student body president has been extended a week after Student Government confirmed there will be a runoff for the position.
The election was narrowed down from four tickets to two after Wednesday and Thursday’s election for student body president. Now Mike Berman and running mate Ronda Bostick will run against Omar Khan and Ryan Morris.
Votes from the election were confirmed Friday after an unofficial announcement was made Thursday night after the polls closed.
Khan and Morris received 905 votes while Berman and Bostick trailed behind with 741 votes. Because nobody received 50 percent of the 1,848 votes, the candidates are forced into a runoff. Voting for the runoff election will be held this week.
Yolanda Best, director of the Election Rules Commission, said election results could not be made official until Friday to be sure that the numbers would not change overnight, though the results had no change from Thursday.
Best said it’s possible for additional votes to be placed throughout the course of the night even after the polls close.
The online voting system allows votes to be placed after the 7 p.m. poll closing time if the voter logs into the system before the deadline.
Results are unofficial until the following day, but Best said SG wanted to announce unofficial results to the candidates to give them an update.
“We wanted to make an announcement because the candidates are so anxious,” Best said.
Votes are calculated instantly through the computer system, but Best said she is only provided with the numbers through Information Technologies at USF.
“I can only read the numbers. I don’t have any control to change anything,” Best said.
The runoff election results will be announced to candidates in the same manner as last week’s first election for student body president.
Voting polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Best said an announcement of the unofficial results will be made again Thursday night, however the time is yet to be announced.
An inauguration for the new student body president and vice president is scheduled for May 1.