By JORDAN GREEN, Editor-in-Chief
Senior psychology major Yosbelli Lora won the race for the vice president’s seat in the Northwestern Student Government Association.
The results of the election were announced Wednesday. Vote tallies were released after the Northwestern News filed an open records request to obtain them.
Lora received 268 votes, or 88.16%, in her bid for the second highest-ranking position in the organization. Her opponent, sophomore computer science major Grayson Pray, garnered 36 votes, or 11.84%.
Dawson Maxwell ran unopposed for the president’s seat, though his name still appeared on the ballot during voting Monday and Tuesday.
Northwestern students voted on the candidates via email.
Lora said Wednesday she is excited to serve Northwestern students.
“I’m so grateful for the opportunity,” she said. “I am so blessed. … Hopefully this year goes a lot better than last semester. … I’m very grateful, happy to serve again. I’m just so grateful.”
“Thank you so much for you guys’ love and support,” she said to her voters.
I really appreciate it. We’re going to make this next year really fun.”
Pray congratulated Lora on her victory and thanked those who voted for him.
“When I heard Yosbelli was running, when at first I heard she’s my competition, I had mixed feelings,” Pray said. “On one hand, I was thinking, ‘This is going to be a really tough race to win.’ On the other hand, I was thinking, if she does win, there’s probably nobody else better to be vice president than her.”
Pray said he hopes to continue being involved on campus and serving as a voice for students.
In the race for treasurer, junior elementary education major Erika Hernandez bested opponent Collin Zink, a sophomore health and sports science major. Hernandez earned 269 votes, or 88.20%, while Zink earned 36 votes, or 11.80%.
“I’m just very thankful for the opportunity, even if the outcomes would have been different,” Hernandez said. “During the campaigning period, I got to reach out to a lot of students that I normally wouldn’t reach out to, and I got to meet a lot of different faces on campus. Even the interview process, that was really nice, and getting to hear others’ opinions on how they want to better Northwestern.”
Calls to Zink were not returned as of press time.
In the race for secretary, sophomore English major Angel Marshall beat freshman political science major Austin Rankin. Marshall earned 162 votes, or 53.47%, while Rankin earned 141 votes, or 46.53%.
“I’m really excited for this opportunity,” Marshall said. “Congratulations to Austin as well. That was a really good race. Whichever way it went would have been really – we were both really good candidates. … I’m just really excited to get started and see what we can accomplish this next year.”
Rankin thanked voters and said he hopes to continue being a voice on campus.
“I just want to tell them ‘thank you’ for participating in the election process,” he said. “I wish the best of luck to the SGA officer team. I still plan to be active on campus this year, and it’s going to be a great year for Northwestern.”