The UOSA Undergraduate Student Congress elected new officers for the upcoming year at the first meeting of its new session Tuesday.
Brett Stidham, human resources and management junior, was unopposed for chairman and was named to the highest position in Student Congress by unanimous consent.
Jonathan Vann, advertising junior, was elected as vice-chairman, over Shayna Daitch, Judaic studies and international security studies junior.
“My biggest goal with Student Congress is to build relationships — relationships are the way to get things done,” Vann said.
Alysa Loveless, Spanish sophomore, was elected as secretary over Jason Robison.
UOSA passed an act establishing a special election for a presidential runoff April 26 and 27. The bill will only take effect if the Superior Court orders that a special runoff election be held.
The UOSA Superior Court held a hearing Monday to decide whether to validate the election, after presidential candidates Jess Eddy and Franz Zenteno contested the results, saying that President-Elect Ally Glavas did not receive a majority of ballots cast.
The court has not yet issued a decision, but the bill is an effort to be proactive, Stidham said.
“This is just a preventative measure,” Stidham said. “If we waited any longer, we wouldn’t be able to hold a special election this semester.”
The bill would restrict the candidates to a $200 limit on campaign spending for the special election. Candidates also would be allowed to use their campaign materials from the general election.
Glavas said she had saved most of her campaign materials and was happy with the spending limits for the special election, if indeed a special election was held.
“It’s a good amount, but frankly we don’t know how the court will rule and whether there will even be an election,” Glavas said.
Zenteno said he had saved around 70 percent of his campaign materials.
“$200 is not enough, but it’s a useful amount for either candidate,” Zenteno said.
Voting for a special election would be online and no physical polling places would be established.
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