Sarah Yee, CC ’16, wins with 44% of the vote.

Voting ended at 5 pm today, and the Columbia Elections Board has just announced that Sarah Yee has beaten out the other four candidates for Ben Kornick’s old representative seat in CCSC with 44% of the vote. In a rather well-publicized election, Yee ran against Ankeet Ball, Christopher Wang, Radhika Gupta, and Sameer Mishra.

Meanwhile, the referendum text was voted on by less than 30% of CC students, but 91% of those who voted were in favor of adding the following to the elections by-laws:

Executive Board candidates running for President must belong to a party with a candidate running for Vice President for Policy, and vice versa. These two positions will be voted on together as a ticket. The Vice President for Campus Life, Vice President for Finance, and Vice President for Communications will be voted on individually, and candidates may run for these positions without a party.

According to the press release, “the referendum will not necessarily go into effect unless CCSC takes further action, according to the CCSC Constitution Article VII.” The referendum essentially would have allowed most of the E-Board to run independently. There’s something to be said for underdogs, accountability, and encouraging new students to run, but there’s also something to be said about a more unified and cohesive E-Board. Only 18% of Columbia College students thought there was anything worth saying at all.

Yee, a sophomore majoring in Political Science, was previously in an unelected position on the Campus Life Committee. She’s currently a Chipotle Student Brand Manager and seeks to increase job and networking opportunities, work more frequently with student groups, and increase awareness of the Sexual Assault Coalition.

Yee’s statement is below:

I’m really excited and encouraged by the number of people who came out to vote – it shows that people really care about CCSC and the work that we do. Though there are only a few weeks in the semester left, I’d love to start with more class apparel, to build community within the Class of 2016. In addition, I will continue working on the Sophomore Formal, slated for late April, which will be off campus this year.

In terms of overall campus-wide spirit, I will continue to support our student-athletes by hosting tailgates before events. Shameless plug: Campus Life will be hosting a tailgate this Saturday before the Men’s Basketball Game. Come see our Lions roar!

Best,

Sarah