Above photo: Kaeden Kelso, junior political science major, and Ysatis Jordan, sophomore health sciences major, are the 2018-2019 student body president and vice president. Courtesy of Ysatis Jordan
By Emily Wunderlich
Presidential candidate Kaeden Kelso and running mate Ysatis Jordan won the Student Government spring election Thursday with 85 percent approval.
Kelso and Jordan ran unopposed this year after Mariah McQueen and running mate Sam Fiore were disqualified one week before campaigning began. Kelso and Jordan needed 50 percent approval plus one vote on a yes or no ballot to get elected.
The duo agreed that this election season was a “rough one” for both themselves and SG, referring to the confusion and controversy that surrounded the election rules commission and supervisor of elections.
“I want to make sure that this is a step in the right direction to move away from that and move towards a more open, transparent and completely accountable Student Government,” Kelso said.
359 students voted in the election. All seven senate candidates were elected.
“The amount of voters that we had for this election surpassed the amount of the last uncontested election, specifically Ziya (Kardas)’s election term (in 2016),” Shannon Scanlon, supervisor of elections, said in an email to The Crow’s Nest.
When Kardas ran unopposed for student body president in 2016, he won with 77 percent approval. A total of 340 students voted that year.
Before voting closed on Thursday, McQueen posted to The USFSP Know It All’s Guide to Knowing It All Facebook page calling for students to vote no against Kelso and Jordan so they would not be limited to one presidential candidate.
However, student body president David Thompson and vice president Maria Almonte endorsed the ticket on the same Facebook page.
“Maria and myself endorsed Kaeden and Ysatis because we had gotten to see them operate as leaders over the course of the year,” Thompson said. “Both represent the continued leadership Student Government needs.”
As a senator, Jordan worked closely with Thompson on the USF System President’s advisory board as well as the Florida Student Association. Kelso chaired both the special funding committee and the appropriations committee after Albert Moreno resigned on Feb. 21.
Before they take office May 7, Kelso and Jordan want to partner with Step Team president Sadandré Jackson to bring different countries’ flags to the University Student Center.
“We have the LGBTQ flags, but we don’t have ones for the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Trinidad, Russia, China,” Jordan said. “We think that’s very important.”
