With ballots counted and winners announced, Notre Dame students who voted in Monday's student body presidential election said they are eager to see Lizzi Shappell and Bill Andrichik put their platform in motion.
"I voted for the ticket that won," senior Lindsay May said. "I have a lot of respect for Lizzi and the time she's spent in student government."
Shappell and Andrichik, both juniors, won a majority of votes - more than 51 percent - so there was no need for a run-off election. It was the first presidential election without a run-off since 1999.
The pair won 2,202 of the 4,253 votes cast Monday - the highest number of votes cast in recent years.
"I think Lizzi will work hard for the students," May said. "I would always see her in Lafortune working on things for student government ... you really have to support someone who's going to put in so much time and effort."
Other students who voted for Shappell and Andrichik said they were impressed by their campaign. Students respected how Shappell and Andrichik conducted themselves and also liked their platform, which included instituting student choice Grab 'N Go and maintaining a dialogue with University President Father John Jenkins about academic freedom.
"I voted for [Shappell-Andrichik] because Lizzi came by my room to introduce herself," senior Casey Dunne said. "Being personable makes you a good candidate."
Dunne also said she had a class with Andrichik, and when a professor asked the vice presidential candidate to talk about his ticket's platform in class, he declined because student government prohibits campaigning in class.
"He's all about the rules," Dunne said.
Junior Jason Laws and sophomore Bob Costa - the main competition for Shappell and Andrichik - came in second place, garnering more than 34 percent of the vote.
"I voted for Laws," freshman Chinedu Dike said. "I know more about him than the others and that was the main basis of my vote."
Student government and the Judicial Council sent e-mail reminders about the upcoming election, but some students said there was not enough publicity about when the event would take place.
"I didn't even know when [the election] was," junior Chris Tracy said. "I thought it was tomorrow. I was going to vote for some of the freshmen running."
Shappell and Andrichik will take office April 1. Shappell replaces Dave Baron as student body president, and Andrichik replaces Shappell as vice president.
