Nagel, Thompson win MSA; Kremers takes GAPSA race

The results are in and the students have spoken.

Next year's Minnesota Student Association leaders are Mark Nagel and Trisha Thompson; Kristi Kremers won the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly race.

Since 8 a.m. on Monday, 1,668 undergraduate and 1,043 graduate students voted in the All Campus Elections.

This year's MSA voter turnout was smaller than last year, but GAPSA saw an increase in turnout.

Also last year, the online voting system encountered problems with tabulating votes and students being able to login.

This year, the All Campus Elections Commission sped up the process and sent out confirmation e-mails to all students who voted, student activities adviser Ed Kim said.

"Everything with the elections did go very smoothly, and it seems that the improvements we have made to the online voting were successful," he said.

MSA

Nagel and Thompson received 895 of the overall votes and won by 180.

"We're excited, we're happy," Nagel said. "We can't wait to put in a lot of work next year to make MSA the best it can be."

They don't have a lot of time to revel in their victory however; they said they want to start working immediately.

"We want to ensure that the transitions run well for every single position in MSA," Nagel said. "We think it's very important that there is a level of continuity between the years so that we don't have to start from scratch."

The runners-up, Mark Lewandowski and Alicia Smith, said they would support the winners.

"No matter what they do, we're going to wish them the best of luck," Lewandowski said.

Lewandowski and Smith said they will probably continue to be active in MSA despite the election outcome.

Current MSA president Emma Olson said she has full confidence in the new leaders and has a few words of wisdom for them.

"You need to make sure to be good to your word," she said. "Ross and I have accomplished every project we ran our campaign on; I can't be more proud."

GAPSA

Kremers generated 60 percent of the vote in her victory against James Faghmous.

"I am absolutely thrilled," she said. "I can't wait to get started and make good on the promises I made."

Kremers said she is ready to go forward with her initiatives.

"When I set down a mission, I go for it and do everything I can to accomplish it," she said.

Faghmous said his continued involvement in GAPSA will depend where Kremers' leads GAPSA.

"I love this position," he said. "But it really depends on the direction GAPSA will be taking."

Current GAPSA president Kristen Denzer said Kremers is in for the ride of a lifetime.

"I am thrilled that so many students have gotten involved with GAPSA this year," Denzer said. "I encourage the new GAPSA President to continue working to increase awareness about GAPSA."