FUSA Elections are Uncontested

The Fairfield University Student Association Election Day for the 2015-16 academic year will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 24, with Anif McDonald ‘16 and Olivia Tourgee ‘16 running uncontested for FUSA President and Vice President, respectively.

According to the email FUSA sent out to the student body on Tuesday, Feb. 17 regarding the upcoming elections, the Class of 2016 Senate only has one person on the ballot. Each class must have five senators.

According to Fred J. Kuo, director of Student Involvement, “It’s up to the class president to fill” any vacancies regarding the election. Write-in candidates will “fill the rest of the seats,” with four students being written in as senators for the 2016 ballot. The students elected will then have the chance to accept or decline the position.

“Low candidate numbers for rising seniors, unfortunately, aren’t terribly uncommon,” stated Kuo. “However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one or two students launch a write-in campaign from abroad.”

President and vice president elections have generally been contested, but the last presidential primary was in spring 2008 when four candidates ran for president, Kuo stated.

“Primaries only take place when there are more than three candidates,” he added. “Last year’s presidential election was the first one with at least three candidates since 2008.”

Seniors Alex Cucchi, Lindsey Hanley and Mariano Portocarrero ran for president last year, with Cucchi securing the presidency with 757 votes.

McDonald is currently the FUSA vice president under Cucchi, with Tourgee acting as president of the Class of 2016.

The last uncontested presidential election was in 2012, when Rob Vogel ‘13 was re-elected for a second-term as FUSA president, with his vice president, Mark Evans ‘13, also running uncontested. Vogel took over as president after the FUSA president resigned during the 2011-12 academic year.

Voting will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. with full-time students being allowed to vote through OrgSync or at the voting area by the Barone Campus Center Information Desk.