Runoffs to be held for '11 elections

Freshmen will vote in runoff elections for class officers today, after no candidate running for any of the five positions won a majority of votes.

In all, 25 candidates ran in the first round of Class of 2011 voting, which lasted two days and ended Tuesday at noon. The nine candidates for president, six for vice president, four for treasurer, three for social chair and three for secretary have been narrowed to two in each race. Voting begins today at noon and continues for 24 hours.

Richie Hunyh and Alex Rosen will compete in the runoff for the Class of 2011 presidency. Trevor Martin and Michael Perl will compete in the runoff for vice president, Jonathan Gary and Miheer Mhatre for treasurer, E.J. Chi and Nick Slavin for social chair and Ryan Huynh and Shaina Li for secretary.

About 56 percent of the freshman class voted in the first round, USG vice president Josh Weinstein '09 said in an email. He is the senior elections manager and oversees the candidacy and voting process.

Overall, Weinstein said, "the elections went very smoothly." Voting was conducted online as it has been for several years and "electronically, everything worked out perfectly."

Though some recent USG and class elections have been plagued with rule-breaking candidates, Weinstein said that there were "very few infractions" of election rules in the first round of voting. The violations that did occur, he said, were relatively minor, such as candidates misplacing posters.

Rosen said in an email that he thought the four-year college system would distinguish his class' University experience from that of previous classes.

"I'd like to take advantage of the opportunities to incorporate residential college events and class events throughout our four years at Princeton," he said, listing as examples study breaks, trips to sporting events, concerts, shows and "unique class events which would become annual traditions, such as contests, carnivals or charity events."

Richie, who is Ryan's identical twin brother, stressed the need for communication between class officers and the student body. He said that campaigning door-to-door to introduce himself to his classmates was "a very rewarding experience."

"I met numerous fantastic people with amazing stories to tell. This is exactly what I would like to capture for all of us to experience, and that is why I would like to see us united and enjoying each other," Richie said in an email, adding that he "want[s] to see us all united and showing contagious class spirit — for our athletes, our musicians, our artists, our dancers — everyone."

Other candidates are also enthusiastic and offer platforms that complement the presidential finalists.

Martin, one of the vice presidential finalists, said that "simply talking to a wide range of the student body and listening to their views is a great first step to making sure student government actually serves the students. Student committees, polls and referendums," he said, are "excellent ways of getting a feel for what the majority wants."

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If elected secretary, Ryan hopes to organize study breaks and parties, seek more alumni support and funds for student organizations and create more volunteer or community service projects.

"If I run into any problems," he said in an email, "such as administration disapproval for an event, then I will be like Batman when he falls down: I will get back up! This is also known as Persistence & Perseverance."

Freshmen will vote in the USG senator and executive committee elections next month and in the general USG elections in the spring to determine class officers for their sophomore year.