Liam Nee
Asst. News Editor
In one-way street fashion, former UMSG Inc. Former Vice President Aaron Ortiz and GSS Sen. Jake Dumas won the offices of Student Body president and vice president, respectively, unopposed, after a campus-wide election held Oct. 31.
Ortiz and Dumas were the only candidates running for the two positions, taking 86 and 91 percent of votes, respectively. The other votes were taken by various write-in candidates.
Ortiz, a third-year mechanical engineering student, will replace Kimberly Dao, a fourth-year biology and pre-med studies student who is expected to graduate this spring, as the new figurehead of the university’s unique, not-for-profit student government corporation.
Ortiz was pleased with the turnout for the election, writing in an email the he is “hoping during [his] term to try and keep that number increasing.”
He expressed disappointment, however, that the referendum that would have increased the student activity fee from $45 to $55 per semester was not passed, with 70 percent of students voting no.
“Unfortunately the referendum did not get the support we were hoping for and I will be working on a new strategy to continue to tackle this issue,” Ortiz wrote.
Dumas will replace Ortiz as vice president, assuming the role of presiding officer over the GSS. As Ortiz has done over the past three semesters, Dumas will keep order, facilitate all discussion, appoint officers when necessary and hold the powers of calling to order an adjournment during each meeting.
Dumas is a second-year political science and legal studies student.
“I’m honored and very excited about being elected vice president of UMSG,” Dumas said during a statement on Sunday. “I would also like to congratulate Aaron Ortiz on being elected president, as well as all of the new senators sworn in [on Tuesday].
“I look forward to taking on the role as [vice president] and working with the rest of UMSG to achieve our goals,” Dumas said. “Thank you to all those who supported me, and go Black Bears!”
Bartley Kelliher, chair of the Fair Elections Practices Commission, was satisfied with the lack of any major issues with the election.
“I felt that the election went extremely well,” Kelliher wrote in an email. “There were no instances of improper campaigning or multiple attempts to vote, which are the two areas as FEPC chair that I am most concerned with. Only one student contacted me with difficulties concerning FirstClass, but we were able to discern the problem that the student was having and find a way to make their vote heard.”
Kelliher did express disappointment in the voter turnout, writing, “I am a little disappointed in the low voter turnout (only 1,216 out of 8,000-plus [University of Maine students]), but the candidates, constituents and election personnel acted in a manner that reflects the educational and professional atmosphere that the University of Maine creates through both the academic and developmental opportunities available.”