Communication junior Jordan Fox and McCormick sophomore Anna Xu will both move on to the runoffs in the race for Associated Student Government academic vice president on Thursday after no candidate received a majority of votes in Tuesday’s election.
With 1,169 votes, Xu led Tuesday’s race with 39.5 percent of the total votes. Fox followed closely with 1088 votes, or 36.8 percent.
Weinberg junior Josiah Jenkins, whose platform called for a “luxurious” pterodactyl, came in third place with 452 votes, 15.3 percent of the total number.
“It’s exciting that I came out on top,” said Xu after learning the results. “But it’s nerve-wracking because I’m mentally preparing to do this whole day over again.”
Xu had planned to spend the evening in Chicago, but she ended up hearing the results in Kappa Delta. She said a full day of campaigning left her exhausted.
“I was so tired that I just couldn’t go anywhere,” she said.
Not Good News, Not Bad News
After a brief phone call with her mom in the hallway, McCormick junior Misi Muindi entered the McCulloch Hall triple and announced that her mom had just disowned her.
“My mom just told me, ‘Jordan better win, because you never call me,'”said Muindi, who is one of Fox’s campaign managers.
But Muindi said her negligence is excusable. She and the rest of Fox’s 10-member team spent more than 30 hours campaigning this week – placing jobs, academics and family on the back burner.
Tuesday night was supposed to be the culmination of their efforts, when ASG’s election commission was scheduled to call Fox at 9 p.m. with the race’s outcome.
Laughter abounded in Fox’s dorm during the minutes before 9 p.m., when four of her close friends and campaign members joined her to hear the election results. Tired, the friends joked and reminisced about their walks around campus handing out fliers, Fox said. The group also converged for a prayer.
At 9 p.m., nerves struck. The jokes that previously kept tension at bay no longer worked for the AVP candidate, who was visibly strained. Anxious for the results, she sat by her computer and checked the HereAndNow Web site to see if they had been posted. Nothing was up.
“I wish (the election commission) wasn’t doing this,” she said aloud after still not knowing the results minutes after 9 p.m. “They make me so nervous.”
Fox’s cell phone finally rang at 9:30 p.m. She looked disappointed as she hung up the phone and announced that she was going to the runoffs.
“Don’t worry! This isn’t good news and it isn’t bad news,” Muindi said. “We have to e-mail the rest of the team. We have to meet. We have to organize for Thursday.”
Dinosaurs Still Exist
Jenkins was unfazed by the results, noting that twice the number of students in his Facebook group voted for him in the election.
For him, dinosaurs in the Lakefill and home economics classes are still a possibility.
“This shouldn’t stop us from cloning dinosaurs on an island off the Lakefill,” he said. “Two weeks of work and we could have this done.”
The DAILY’s Evan Hill and Kristyn Schiavone contributed to this story.
Reach Allan Madrid at [email protected].
