The Elections Council announced Caroline Keim, junior in public relations, as the next Miss Auburn for the 2021-2022 academic year on the steps of Cater Hall Tuesday night.
The event looked different this year with limited in-person attendance in the midst of COVID-19 guidelines. The overall voter turnout of the election was 33.72% with 9,843 voters participating out of the 29,193 that were eligible.
Keim ran on a platform aimed at promoting awareness and breaking the stigma associated with counseling in partnership with Auburn's counseling services.
Keim beat out four other candidates running for the position, Mary Collins, junior in global studies, Elaine Shankute, junior in psychology, Abby Smith, junior in nutrition wellness and Kathleen Sullivan, junior in supply chain management. Keim received 2787 votes or 30.59% of the total Miss Auburn votes cast, Sullivan received 2469 votes or 27.10%, Smith received 1663 votes or 18.25%, Shankute received 1113 votes or 12.22% and Collins received 1078 votes or 11.83%.
Keim won a majority of votes despite the campaign being found guilty of two infractions from adding students to campaign group chats without consent. Both infractions took $5 out of the allotted campaign budget for Keim's campaign.
Keim said that her emotional connection to her platform made the campaign week very rewarding and set her apart as a candidate.
"Before I started this week, I decided that Miss Auburn should do more speaking engagements off of mental health in general," she said. "I am really looking forward to sharing my story further."
She expressed her gratitude to the other Miss Auburn candidates and to the Auburn student body for having faith in her.
"Thank you [to the Auburn students] for joining me this week, ...for believing in my story and encouraging me the entire way," Keim said. "Even if I did not win tonight I still would have felt the most loved I have ever felt in my entire life and that is thanks to the Auburn students."
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