By Julia Matias
After a four-week run, Student Government elections concluded Thursday night with presidential and vice-presidential candidates Peter DiSilvio and Simon Duncanson gaining the plurality of the votes.
The DiSilvio and Duncanson ticket pulled in 751 votes, almost 200 more than candidates Joe Napoli and Tom Kopec, who came in second place with 557 votes. Candidates Nathan Yadgar and Russell Akiyama pulled in 489 votes, while Justin Meyers and Chris Nicolia had 100 votes.
This year’s online elections brought in a total of 1,934 votes, almost a 1,000 more than the 2005 poll elections, according to rules committee chairman Adam Doyno.
The five referenda on the ballots received positive results from the student body. For the erection of a non-white historical statue, 1,247, approximately 64 percent of those who voted, said yes. Martin Luther King Jr. came in first place with 686 votes, as the figure the student body wants to commemorate. Mahatma Gandhi came in as second with 498, while Rosa Parks closely followed with 442 votes.
Eighty percent of voters responded that they want their tuition to cover the full 18 credits instead of only 17.
For finding an alternative to animal dissection for students with religious and ethical objections, 1,238 of the student body voted yes, while 374 voted no.
The referendum that asks whether there should be a procedure for bringing charges against public safety officers, faculty and administration, 1,535 voted yes.
The last referendum, one that would allow students to use arcade games for free, 1,512 voted yes.