Senate candidate drops out, write-in comes close
S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources senatorial candidate Patrick Adams withdrew from the race Wednesday afternoon.
He decided to spend the fall semester studying abroad in London.
“We are surprised by Patrick’s news but excited for his opportunity, and we hope this inspires some natural resource students,” said Shelby Frauen, elections committee co-chair. “I hope this calls natural resource students to action.”
Because he was unopposed, the elections committee will reopen the spot.
“I think for such a small college, they deserve some big representation,” Frauen said. “They have a newly named college and new endowments. With all the exciting things happening in their college, students could be taking advantage of that.”
Write-in candidates have also been a focus of this year’s elections because new legislation was passed. The change allows write-ins to be on the final ballot if they receive a certain number of votes.
Michelle Staples and Oakman Kennedy both ran active write-in campaigns for Programming vice president during primary campaigning. Staples was eight votes away from receiving her name on the ballot.
“The new legislation should change the way students think about write-ins because for every illegitimate vote, it increases the amount of votes a serious or legitimate candidate needs to get in order to appear on the final ballot,” said Nathan Laursen, adviser for the elections committee.
When a person votes for Stew Morrill, Big Blue or Batman, it increases the number of votes a write needs to obtain, Laursen said.
Some students don’t think the “silly” write-ins is a problem.
“If the student body thought of Michelle as a qualified and experienced candidate, I don’t feel that there would have been as close of a call, regardless of the funny write-ins,” said Jacob Scott, an election committee member.
Final voting ends 3 p.m. Thursday, and results will be announced at 6:30 p.m. in the Sunburst and International Lounge on the second floor of the Taggart Student Center.
– daniellekmanley@gmail.com
Twitter: @daniellekmanley