On Wednesday, Student Association announced that the Imagine party has officially swept its second election for contested positions.
The election was repeated as a result of an appeal made by senior Rebecca Coons at a student court hearing on April 7. Only the positions that were contested in the original elections at the end of March were up for election again.
The official winners of the positions which were re-voted on this past weekend are junior Haleema Murtaza as SA president, sophomore Nicholas Kaasik as vice president, sophomore Mathe Kamsutchom as director of public relations, junior Brian Hartle as director of Academic Affairs, freshman Hamza Murtaza as director of Student Affairs, and sophomore Will Labate as the new member of the Student Assembly.
Although re-elections were held as a result of the student court hearing, all members of the Vision party except for Coons removed their names from the ballots this time around.
"I decided not to seek re-election because it was never Vision's intention to have a re-election," said freshman Dayshawn Simmons, former vice presidential candidate from the Vision party. "The purpose of Vision submitting an appeal to Student Court was to have an objective body inform us that the way the campaigning was conducted was either fair or unfair."
"To clear up a few misconceptions," he added, "it is my understanding that the appeal was going to be submitted no matter the outcome of the elections."
Former Vision candidate for director of Academic Affairs, freshman Thomas Buneo echoed Simmons. "My intents with the Student Court were never to overthrow the election and somehow fight the Imagine party for control over SA, but rather to have an independent body rule on the fairness of this election," he said. "This campus deserves a fair election and I wanted to ensure such an election would happen."
"My main reason for not running again was I did not completely agree with the appeal put forward by members of my party," said sophomore Erika Collins, former Vision candidate for director of Student Affairs. "I initially thought I might agree with it, but then after stepping back, realized that it was just certain individuals being overly critical of the opposing party and I am not one who wishes to be a part of that."
All three former members of the Vision party expressed explicitly their wishes of good fortune on their former opponents. "I do believe that Nick Kaasik will do an excellent job as VP next year for Geneseo and I most definitely hope to work with him," said Simmons.
"I look forward to next year and anticipate great things from SA as always," said Buneo. "I will always be there to lend a helping hand to those who need it."
Said Collins, "Although my party didn't win for the positions that were opposed, I am very fond of the Imagine party and think that they will bring forth great changes to Geneseo next year."
Though the results did not change, Buneo said he was thankful for the outcome of the student court hearing. "Due to the work put forth by the Student Court and [junior] Raymond Lord, former chair of USAEC, as well as the newly appointed chair, senior Thomas Johns, the way elections will be held at Geneseo from now on will be much, much better."