Four candidates will be on the ballot for the Associated Student Body runoff election today after no single candidate gained a majority of the votes in the secretary and presidential races.
Elam Miller and Wister Hitt are the candidates for the presidential runoff after they nearly tied in Tuesday night’s election. Miller received 36.34 percent of the vote, and Hitt received 35.63 percent of the vote.
Miller, the current ASB vice president, is running on a platform of greater transparency and student involvement within ASB and promotes ideas such as starting an “idea-tracker” for legislation.
“We’re going to have this idea-tracker that will be on our ASB website,” Miller said. “And (students) will be able to see it and say, ‘This is the idea I submitted.’”
Miller also wants to create a codified shared governance model to hold the university administration more accountable to the student body.
Students hand out campaign stickers in front of the ASB candidate signs on Business Row this afternoon. The runoff results for president and secretary will be announced on the Lyceum steps on Thursday. Photo by Marlee Crawford
“I really want to hold the administration accountable to the student voice,” Miller said. “So, this means more student representation on standing committees and trying to find a way for our Senate to have a voice when we do pass legislation.”
Hitt is running to increase communication efforts between ASB and students by enacting a constitutionally mandated town hall event.
“I want an annual State of the University address,” Hitt said. I want to include an executive officer, a member of the Faculty Senate and the chancellor.”
Hitt also wants to bring a technology upgrade to campus to better serve students’ needs.
“I think the university needs to have a hybrid of upgrading personal computers in academic buildings,” Hitt said. “I also think we should have a technology center on campus to where students can bring their personal computers to have them upgraded to the most cutting-edge technology.”
Cady Cooper and Reagan Moody are the candidates for the secretary election after starting out as write-in candidates and not having their names on the ballot in Tuesday’s election. Cooper received 44.99 percent of the vote, and Moody received 31.89 percent of the vote.
Cooper said her platform includes increasing the transparency of ASB’s public records even further.
“I want to make it to where the ASB Senate meetings are available to view 24 hours after the Senate adjourns,” Cooper said. “I also want to make the senators’ voting records public record instead of (students) having to individually request them.”
Moody’s platform focuses more on smoothing out the transition of power that occurs after ASB elections.
“I want to have each executive officer candidate write down what their strengths and weaknesses were in their office,” Moody said. “Then they would give it to the incoming person for a smoother transition.”
Attorney General Dillon Pitts said the runoff elections will be conducted in the same manner as was the first election and that he’s looking forward to the results of the runoff election.
“We had a great turnout (on Tuesday),” Pitts said. “We need everyone to come out and vote on Thursday.”
Voting in the runoff elections will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and students can vote through their myOleMiss accounts under the “Get Involved” tab.
