Cheers, roars and applause filled the Quad when Owen Parrish was announced as the new SGA president at 10:10 p.m. Tuesday. A crowd of hundreds awash with the colors of their campaigners gathered in the cold to hear the callouts on the back steps of Cater Hall.
Parrish took 3,621 of the 7,470 votes cast, for a total of 48 percent.
"I feel kind of crazy right now," Parrish said. "I can't believe this happened. I'm so indebted to so many of my friends--so thankful for what they did. I can't even express how humbling this is and how proud I am of all my friends ... We're just gonna celebrate for a little while and then get started with the work."
Joseph Cortopassi, who received 2,123 votes, was the closest candidate to Parrish.
Parrish said he's going to work with current SGA President Kirby Turnage to implement his platform.
"I'm going to start working on the Caribou Coffee in Lowder and the frozen yogurt in the Village because I've been working on that for about a week and a half now," he said.
Turnage said he's happy with the results and the process.
"I think the student body showed up--32 percent turnout, which is great," he said. "I think we're all obviously shocked it wasn't a runoff in the presidential race. I think the Parrish campaign did a great job. His whole team was very impressive. I was excited to see we had two non-Greek candidates this year, as well. I think it's good for the student body to see that it's more than just Greek leaders."
Cary Bayless and Will McCartney were the two non-Greek presidential candidates.
Turnage expressed confidence in his successor.
"Owen will do a great job," Turnage said. "He's been with SGA since his freshman year. He's seen the programming division; he's seen the initiative side of SGA. He's also been a senator-at-large as well. So I think he's more than prepared to come in day one, all guns-a-blazin,' ready to take on issues that affect students every day."
Melanie Smith was elected vice president with 4,666 of the 7,092 votes cast.
"(I was) so overwhelmed and relieved and so excited and just so thankful: I'm just in shock," Smith said. "I'm passionate. I've been serving SGA for the past three years. This is what I wanted and something I went for. I was the most qualified.
"My first step is probably just to wrap my mind around how this is even happening, and then just bonding with the new (executive staff) and trying to learn from Vanessa and just trying to get started with my platform."
Richard Pettey was elected treasurer with 4,021 votes of the 7,124 votes cast. Pettey said he'll quickly begin a process to develop plans for the SGA treasury.
"Hopefully I'll have a 30-day plan, and then a two-month plan and then a six-month plan in which hopefully I'll accomplish every one of my initiatives," Pettey said. "I think the first thing is just finding out what students want, showing them where their money goes and finding out where they want to see their money go because it is a lot of money students pay."
Pettey said he wants to establish a forum for students to voice their concerns.
"I'll hold a series of town hall meetings where I'll find out where students want their money going, and just get a really thorough view of of all the SAPs and find out who needs less money, who needs more money, and I'll find out how students can be benefitted the best," Pettey said.
Libby Lukens was elected Miss Auburn, but the number of votes in that race wasn't reported.
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