The UPUA Elections Commission entered Alumni Hall to a crowd highly anticipating the results. Spectators and supporters had begun arriving shortly after 10 p.m., and waited over an hour for the Commission’s announcement.

After going through the winners of each of the 17 representative races, Head Elections Commissioner Dustin Dove revealed the results of the presidential/vice presidential election that everyone had been waiting for. Joe Grimes and Tyler Weintz finished fourth, behind David Adewumi and Sri Pisupati in third, Travis Salters and Maggie Quinn in second, leaving TJ Bard and Courtney Lennartz as the winners.

Bard was endorsed by a staggering number of organizations, including The Daily Collegian and Onward State. He and Lennartz garnered a commanding 49% of the overall vote, beating the runners-up by 19 percentage points.

“I just leaped out of my chair,” said Bard. “I’ve been so tired all day and I just don’t know where the energy came from. […] It’s completely surreal. I feel like I’m dreaming right now. This is awesome.” He also said that his first order of business would be to reach out to all the student organizations on campus and “fulfill [their] promises to them.”

Maggie Quinn, whose ticket finished second, explained where she took solace. “I leave here knowing that 2,000 people backed me.” She added that her commitment to helping students via UPUA would not end last night.

Bard and Lennartz ran on a platform of experience, using it to establish “student voice” and outreach to student organizations. They also pledged to work with administrators on the budget/tuition issue as well as others like housing on- and off-campus.

Deputy Elections Commissioner Katie Perugini explained that turnout had increased by 151 participants. A total of 6,941 students voted, making up 18% of the total undergraduate population. Percentage-wise, it’s abysmal. Though Perugini explained sound initiatives she and the Commission took to increase turnout, it seems that most students are motivated neither intrinsically or extrinsically to vote in UPUA elections. We’ll see if the UPUA’s Sixth Assembly will draw more attention to itself and therefore its members and elections, hopefully through worthy accomplishments.

Here are the winners of the other elections:

Academic College Representatives

Spencer Malloy – College of Agricultural Sciences
Christen Buckley – College of Arts and Architecture
Elias Warren – Smeal College of Business
William Olson – Division of Undergraduate Studies
Josh Popowycz – College of Education
Dan Tauriello – College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
Erik McCann – College of Engineering
Byron Siegall – College of Health and Human Development
Andrew Lentz – College of Information Sciences and Technology
John Zang – College of the Liberal Arts
Jarod Hughes (write-in) – Schreyer Honors College
Christopher Ferri – Eberly College of Science

On-Campus Representatives

Katie Quinn
Ali Cook
Ali Fogarty
Candace Fox
Rachel Franceschino
PJ Taylor
Tom Bremer

Off-Campus Representatives

Adam Boyer
Malcolm Pascotti
Mallory Reed
Brendan McNally
Eli Glazier
Chris Donohue
Daniel Heitlinger
David Harrington
Anas Almathami
Richard Pooler
Jill Seifrit

At-Large Representatives

Kyle Lorenz
Tyler Doppelheuer
Rebecca Alt
Brenden Dooley
Kelly Terefenko
Justin Laskowski