After weeks of campaigning for last week's Student Association Senate elections, the Edge Party swept every position, taking home 11 senate seats and the SUNY SA delegate position.
Six on-campus senators and six off-campus senators were elected, in addition to a SUNY SA delegate position.
The Edge Party's Yesenia Diaz, R. Michael Goggin, Kristen Swanson, Katie Walsh and Adam R. Baviford won the on-campus seats, while Anthony Burgio, Lynn Kwon, Sara Nye, Kimberly Sweet, Leon Vishnevsky and Mark Zambito took the off-campus positions. George Pape, current SUNY SA president, won the delegate slot.
Transformers party candidate Urvish Tamakuwala, who won an on-campus seat, was the only candidate not affiliated with the Edge Party to secure a position.
"I am disappointed that the people I wanted to work with didn't win, but I am excited to work with new people, they all seem very nice," Tamakuwala said, adding that he wants his experience in the residence halls to benefit SA.
Of the 17,290 undergraduates eligible to vote in the election, only 629 on-campus students and 377 off-campus students voted.
Vishnevsky, who is a newcomer to UB politics, cited student apathy as the reason for the low turnout. He said that "a lot of people really don't care" about the elections, even though the senators control over $500,000 of students' money.
According to Pape, he now has the responsibility to ensure that the UB population is well represented and that the students are aware of what is happening within the SUNY SA.
"Even though the nominees I voted for were not among those elected, I am sure the winners will represent the students well," said Nick Smith, a sophomore business major who helped with the Transformers campaign. "I had fun helping out with the campaign, and it definitely seemed like all the nominees were a good group."
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
