2008 Woodie Awards
Student body elects Rygh as new WSG president
Amy Eschenbach
Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: News
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Rygh and O'Rourke won by receiving 234 total votes more than their competition. Rygh is currently the university services director, and O' Rourke, is currently the academic and student affairs director.
"We had some good opponents with unique viewpoints." O'Rourke said. "We couldn't take the safe answer, we had to make sure that our viewpoints agreed with the students, because this is about us representing the students."
The results of the election were approved at the WSG meeting Monday.
Their campaign budget was small because Rygh and O'Rourke said they felt it was better to get to know students and show them dedication.
"I was happy with [the campaign]," O'Rourke said. "We took an approach of talking one on one with a lot of students."
Rygh and O'Rourke will be inaugurated at the WSG banquet on May 4th, and their term will start July 1. They will putting out applications for their E-board soon.
Despite the fact that voting was back in the new University Center, voter turnout was the lowest it has been in years with only 3.9 percent of the campus voting. Rygh and O'Rourke received 234 votes, Issiaka Bara and Cheick Ouedraogo received 44, and Smits and Smolinske received 122, and there were two write-in candidates.
The elections committee spent almost three hours counting ballots last Friday.
"It took us about three hours, because there are so many rules we have to go by," said WSG Elections Committee Member Lamont Sharp.
The ballots had to be tallied by date, and the elections committee had to count the registered voters. There were no violations which means the candidates ran a clean campaign.
Rygh and O'Rourke are looking forward to the coming year. Rygh wants the UW-Whitewater to understand how much power WSG has.
"I am looking forward to doing big things next year," she said. "I want to go to the students because I want to make sure I have the student voice."
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