Next week, student body presidential candidates Christopher Leddy and running mate Kayla Richmond, and Juan Soltero and running mate Bruno Portigliatti will face off in a run-off election.

Soltero and Portigliatti led in the original race with 43 percent of the vote, and Leddy and Richmond trailed with 25 percent. There will be a run-off because no candidate received over 50 percent of the votes.

Candidates Christopher Cano and Ralph Reid will not move on to the final election.
Campaigning for next week’s elections begins as soon as candidates turn in their budgets, said Supervisor of Elections Michael van Hoek.

Richmond said she was “ecstatic” about their accomplishment.

Leddy said for the upcoming campaigning, the two would focus on making students more aware of the elections and getting them to vote for a second time.

Soltero and Portigliatti said they were very “excited” about their success.

“We knew we were fighting a strong campaign all along, and we’re gong to continue to do that until Wednesday,” Soltero said. “We hope all of our supporters come back and vote once again.”  

After hearing the results, Cano said that he was just happy that students voted. 
“Honestly, we ran the cleanest campaign,” he said. “We’re proud of the way we carried ourselves.” Reid’s running mate Robin Roup said she was “surprised” by the results. Reid and Roup probably won’t endorse another ticket, she said.

Reid could not attend the Election Night Announcement Social because he was in Tallahassee with the Political Honor Society, Roup said.

There were more than the presidential candidates to vote for on the ballot. Students could also vote for several non-binding referendums on the ballot. Though the votes will not directly decide any courses of action, they were meant to gauge student interest in the proposals. 

A majority chose to use Capital Improvement Trust Fund money for a combination facility, with recreation center expansion and a nutritional dining facility in the Sun Dome, van Hoek said. The most-favored type of dining facility students voted for was a “grab and go” style of dining.

Students also chose to allocate the Tech Fee money for classroom capture technology, he said.

The Green Fee initiative was also supported by a majority of student voters, van Hoek said.

However, Student Environmental Association president Lyndsey Scofield was concerned over a last-minute change in the language of the Green Fee referendum on the ballot. Soltero said the language change will probably be looked into Friday.