Junior Class Officer Election Ties

Norma Fruzynski, Diya Singh (Juniors)

Over the past two weeks, Junior class officer elections were held. While the Treasurer, Vice President, Historian, and Parliamentarian positions had clear winners (Aiden Elliston, Aavin Mangalmurti, Cora Myers, and Sophie Boodoo, respectively), both the student body President and Secretary positions were left in ties. Both groups were given the option to do a runoff election or share the title, and both groups decided it would be best to split the office. Because of these ties, The Eagle Times  interviewed involved parties on their thoughts and opinions on the outcome of the election.

To start, spoke to the two winners for class secretary, Paola Santos, and Eilidh Chapman. Their initial reactions to the election were both positive. Paola said that she was surprised and proud of herself for doing so well, and Eilidh said she’s excited to work with their class officer group. When asked if they were surprised by the tie, Eilidh said that she was shocked because of the unlikeliness that two people would get the same number of votes. Paola said that she was surprised she won in general because she didn’t think it was likely she would succeed in the election. Secondly, we asked if a runoff ever crossed their minds. With mixed responses, Paola said it did cross her mind many times before they ultimately made the decision to share the role, and Eilidh mentioned that she didn’t think the stress of another election was worth it and that she was looking forward to working with everyone who also earned the privilege of being voices for the junior class. Lastly, when asked how they plan to go about sharing the role of secretary, both of them expressed that they feel confident that they will work well together. 

Secondly, the presidential vote split. There was a resounding feeling of shock surrounding the tie, especially amongst the two winners, Mariah Gaines and Isaiah Trumbull. When asked about his initial feelings, Isaiah said “I was very surprised. Seemed pretty unlikely that not only would we be equally supported but that the numbers would work out the way they did.” Mariah echoed similar sentiments. However, both had somewhat different responses to the runoff. Isaiah told us that it wasn’t something that he was interested in, and expressed that he was grateful for the tie. He said, “When faced with the options, no. I didn’t want to do that to Mariah or myself, and I thought that a tie was the best case scenario.” Mariah told us that she had thought about the runoff, but that at the end of the day, she realized that sharing the office made the most sense. “I was initially a little disappointed because I just wanted a clear answer but then I realized that a tie was probably the best thing that could’ve happened…I considered a runoff but then I thought about it more and realized that there was no reason for Isaiah and me not to share the position. Only good things will come from there being two presidents.” Both are now excited to share the position equally and view it as a way for two different skill sets to be involved in presidential decision-making.