The results of Tuesday's online voting propelled the Brown-Fitzgerald and White-Moran tickets into the final race for the next president of the Saint Mary's student body.
Fifty-two percent of the student body voted in Tuesday's primary election. Sarah Catherine White and Mary Pauline Moran led the pack with 46 percent of the vote. Sarah Brown and Michelle Fitzgerald received 35 percent of the vote after the deduction of their campaign penalty. Shay Jolly and Veronica Saavedra trailed with 17 percent of the vote. Two percent of those who voted abstained.
"We were honored by the primary results and to be thought of as leaders by our peers," White said. "It would be an honor to win, as well, but it is not over until it is over."
To win the primary, one ticket needed to receive 50 percent of the turnout plus one vote. Since this did not happen, a runoff will take place until midnight Thursday in which either the White or Brown ticket must tally the highest total of raw votes. The new student body president and vice president for the next academic year will be announced Friday.
Both tickets have been utilizing their final hours of campaign time to encourage students to vote in their favor. Brown and Fitzgerald have been going table to table through the dining hall and door to door through the residence halls promoting their platform, hoping people return to their computers to vote.
"We are looking forward to serving the student body, should we win," Fitzgerald said. "Our main concern is to get everyone back out voting."
All candidates are excited about the showing of student support and hope it continues through the final round of voting. Online voting not only increased on-campus voter turnout; it also allowed for five international students and 62 off-campus students to vote.
Students will be able to log on Prism and vote through midnight Thursday.
