The Committee on Student Elections (CSE) announced the results of the 2017-2018 Student Government Association (SGA) Class Council elections on Wednesday. Voter turnout increased from 974 votes to 988 votes, a 0.1 percent increase from last year; 24.4 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots this year.
Junior Kwame Alston, a current SGA class senator, was elected class president with 200 votes and 22 abstentions. Sophomore Class Senator Ash Panakam, who ran against Class Senator Jennifer Baron, was elected class president with 251 votes. Baron received 210 votes. Current Freshman Class President Anthony Boutros was re-elected with 187 votes and 27 abstentions. Both Alston and Boutros ran unopposed.
Panakam ran for class president because she wanted SGA to take on a more active role in the Hopkins community.
“Three things I want to do next year are to create greater student engagement with the SGA, promote class bonding and fight for more robust mental health resources,” she wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
She also commented on the high voter turnout for the sophomore class and hopes that more students will continue to participate in SGA elections going forward.
“Voter turnout among the sophomores has been better this year than in the past,” she wrote. “There were more votes cast this election cycle than last year which is really encouraging. I hope that we can continue this momentum in future years to gain greater class participation.”
Boutros noted that increasing voter turnout is something he hopes to address.
“The voter turnout was very low, which is due to the lack of competition and advertising,” he wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “I plan to work with the CSE to increase the number of individuals who challenge incumbents next year.”
He also stated that he is excited to work with the other students elected to serve on SGA.
Next year’s senior class council will include Sarah Zappone, Mieraf Teka, Hayley Dott, Tatiana Sorenson and Joshua Bertalotto. 232 rising seniors voted.
Soumaila Haidara, Fatima Bouftas, Clarissa Chen, Nina D’Amiano, Kush Mansuria and Mallika Akhtar were elected senators for next year’s junior class council. Seven students ran for six senatorial spots. The junior class council elections had the highest voter turnout, with 526 rising juniors casting their ballots.
Meghna Kumar, Maya Foster, Dean Chien, Olivia Cigarroa, Edo Ighodaro and Alex Walinskas will make up next year’s sophomore class council. 230 rising sophomores voted.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.