On Mar. 21, the judiciary board of SGA met to decide whether or not a runoff election would be held in light of a formal petition from Ira Livnat’s presidential campaign.
The judiciary board has ruled that there will not be a runoff election. The results will hold, and Anthonio Prince and Jordan Madden will be the SGA president and Speaker of the Senate for the 93rd Administration, respectively.
The Livnat campaign submitted the petition because they felt that the bylaws regarding the election did not accurately discern a winner based on the vote totals.
After a few hours of deliberation on Thursday, the judiciary board came to their decision and released a statement explaining their reasoning.
The SGA justices lay out why they decided not to hold a runoff election in the letter.
“While there are potential inconsistencies in the bylaws, where Article 10§ A can be read to be inconsistent with §D, we believe it can also be read in a way that it is not inconsistent.”
“While §A does state that “ winners . . . will be determined by [the] majority of first-choice votes”, it does not state what to do if there is no majority. [As] the Bylaws are currently written, §D guides us on to the next step by stating that we proceed to a second-round using RCV.
- D and §A allow a candidate to receive a majority of votes and win, but §D subsequently provides further details on what to do if a majority is not met. Therefore, we hold that §A and §D are not inconsistent with each other, but rather §D logically completes §A.”
Our 93rd Administration:
Now that it has been decided that the votes will hold, we can officially declare that the executive offices of the 93rd Administration of the student body will be occupied by Anthonio Prince, Devi Patel and Jordan Madden.
Prince is a third-year biology student.
In a statement Prince gave to The Signal, he expressed his gratitude for his victory and doubled down on his promises to the student body.
“I want to offer my heartfelt gratitude to God and every student that voted in this election. In addition, I would like to express my appreciation to my family and my friends for their continued love and support.”
“The future looks bright, and I believe we can build on the SGA’s achievements and continue to address all student concerns and enhance student life at Georgia State University.”
Madden is a first-year political science major. In a statement to The Signal, Madden conveyed his dedication to serving the student body.
“I want to thank everyone. A huge thank you to my supporters and the voters who took a chance on me to represent this prestigious university.”
“It is my honor and privilege to answer the call and serve as your 93rd Speaker of the Atlanta Senate and represent 33,000 students on the downtown campus and, in turn, 55,000 students with honesty, integrity and humility.”
“I have always believed from the beginning that we could make a difference, and I am beyond joyful that we could do it together.”
Alongside Patel, who was in the only executive race to not be met with controversy as she ran uncontested, these three and the many senators within SGA will serve as our student representatives at Georgia State for the following year.
The broad goals that seem to be the main focus of this administration will be to improve campus safety and increase student engagement with student organizations and campus life.
