New U-Councilors elected, Class Council mishap leads to rerun in spring elections

The undergraduate student body elected ten new U-Councilors in its Spring 2026 election cycle on Friday. The Class of 2029 secretary and Class of 2028 social chair races will be rerun, as it was discovered that elections had been conducted using approval voting rather than the ranked-choice method. 

Stanley Stoutamire Jr. ’27 led the field of 17 U-Councilor candidates with 429 votes, followed by Sastha Tripathi ’28 with 359 votes and Isaac Barsoum ’28 with 344 votes. Andrew Chou-Belden ’29 finished fourth with 339 votes. Completing the set of ten elected councillors were Ian Mann ’28, Ai Vy Shulman ’29, Caleb Rosenfeld ’27, Salma Alhsni ’28, Arjun Menon ’27, and Jeanley Boursiquot ’27.

The newly elected councilors will serve one year terms as student representatives on the USG senate and the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), a shared governance body that includes faculty, staff, students, and alumni. 

Stoutamire said he plans to use his position to advance student understanding of Princeton’s disciplinary structures, in light of proposed changes to proctoring. In a written statement to the ‘Prince,’ he stated, “One thing I’m excited about is the upcoming student survey on the disciplinary bodies on campus.” 

In response to a question about potential roadblocks that could impede his work, Stoutamire stated that “the ball is actually in our court to give our peers reasons to believe that USG can continue to deliver real wins for them.”

Barsoum wrote that “the time for complacency and passivity amongst our student representative[s] is over. The time for alert, attentive, aggressive — when necessary — student representation is here.” He identified the administration’s policymaking process as a structural obstacle, pointing to issues including the elimination of independent dining, changes to exam proctoring, and USG-subsidized NJ Transit tickets as topics he intends to address.

Barsoum is an associate Opinion editor for the ‘Prince.’ 

Chou-Belden said that he and Shulman came to understand USG’s structure only through significant independent research which involved direct conversations with members, attending senate meetings, and reading the CPUC Charter. 

Shulman is a former contributing Opinion writer for the ‘Prince.’

“Students shouldn’t have to make these efforts just to understand how USG functions,” he wrote. He added that his first project would be to produce an accessible guide to USG, calling it a “simple, overlooked, and sorely-needed project.” 

He also noted that the U-Councilors’ impacts are limited when they pursue separate agendas. “I hope to unite with other U-Councilors so that we can concentrate our collective energy on specific causes,” he continued.

The Class of 2029 secretary and Class of 2028 Social Chair election will be rerun after the Elections Team determined that the online voting platform had administered both contests using approval voting, a system in which voters may select any number of candidates, rather than the ranked-choice format mandated by Section 703 of the USG Elections Handbook. 

In a statement to the ‘Prince,’ USG Vice President Anuj Krishnan ’27 wrote that the discrepancy was caught by the elections team before results were officially published. USG leadership, the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS), and the candidates were all notified on the same day. “USG leadership is working with the Elections Team and ODUS to examine how we can better deploy our current election software to ensure that this does not happen again,” Krishnan wrote. 

Krishnan confirmed that the rerun carries additional financial costs. He wrote that the cost of the Class of 2028 and Class of 2029 elections is each $170 resulting in a combined cost of $340 for both reruns. 

The revote for Class of 2029 secretary, which includes Toby Chang ’29, Ehimwenma  Ehiosu-Enoma ’29 and Hailey Swyter ’29 as candidates, and the Class of 2028 Social Chair election, involving Antonia Cañizares ’28 and Sam Toledo ’28, is scheduled to start at noon on Monday and continue for two days.

Chang is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’

Candidates reacted to the invalidation with a mix of frustration and measured acceptance. 

Chang, who is the incumbent, wrote that the timing of the re-vote compounded existing pressures. “This election cycle has been particularly stressful for me as well as other candidates, with finals coming up and other pressures also mounting,” he wrote in a statement to the ‘Prince.’ “It’s incredibly frustrating that stress will be prolonged by another week.” 

Ehiosu-Enoma said she accepted the decision. “Elections should be fair and if the process wasn’t what it was supposed to be, then a rerun is the only way to make sure the outcome actually reflects what students want.” 

Swyter was disappointed when she heard the election was invalidated. She wrote, “I don’t know if the approval voting really made a difference because most people I know simply chose one candidate to vote for.”

She expressed concern that the re-vote would be decided by a substantially smaller electorate. “I predict far less students will vote in the re-vote, and it will likely come down to which candidate can get most of their friends to vote,” she continued.

In the Class of 2028 social chair election, Cañizares, the incumbent, wrote that the rerun came as a surprise since some results had already been announced, but she welcomed the opportunity to continue her campaign process. “I think the rerun provides an opportunity to ensure the process is clear and consistent, which ultimately supports the legitimacy of the result,” she wrote. 

Cañizares’ opponent, Toledo, wrote that he understood why people were disheartened by the rerun but that the “USG Elections Committee is handling this matter in a way that’s transparent and centered on doing right by students.”

Krishnan called the integrity of both races important regardless of their scope. “All class Government and the USG Senate election are incredibly important.” 

Andrew Arthur is a staff News writer from London.

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