Incumbent Tufts Community Union (TCU) Treasurer junior Jeff Katzin will step up to the role of TCU President for the 2005-2006 school year. Katzin won in a landslide election over current TCU Vice President junior Rafi Goldberg.
Approximately 32 percent of undergraduate students voted in yesterday's online election, up from last year's voter turn-out of 30 percent.
According to a press release from Elections Board (ELBO) Public Relations officer freshman Simone Press, 1,568 of undergraduates cast ballots out of 4,971 eligible voters. Katzin won with 1,226 votes, while Golberg took 342 votes.
The online poll was open all day yesterday, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. During the earlier hours, some students complained that they were either unable or were having trouble accessing the online ballot.
"The problem was that there was an influx of people attempting to reach the server, particularly during the peak hours from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. - soon after we sent out the e-mail [reminder to vote] to students," ELBO Chair sophomore Denise Wiseman said. "The people in Dowling were working on the problem to fix it as soon as they could."
Wiseman said that the high traffic volume online did not affect the voting results. "This sort of problem has happened in the past, and we're looking into ways of fixing it [for future online elections]," she said.
Katzin said that he thought everything went well with the campaign and the elections. "The turn-out was pretty decent - the student body was faced with two different people with different ideas ... I compliment [Goldberg]," he said.
"It was really basically everything I hoped it would be - everything was positive. [Goldberg] ran a great campaign, and things were kept positive between the two of us," he said. Katzin also said that he would like to work with Goldberg on some of Goldberg's initiatives from his campaign platform.
Now that the elections are over, Katzin said that his "first and foremost priority" will be to get his Council of Presidents initiative off the ground. "How I envision [the Council of Presidents] is a chance for myself and the presidents of student organizations to work together and get an agenda on the table before this semester ends and the fall semester begins," Katzin said.
Once the Fall 2005 semester begins, Katzin said that another priority of his will be a meeting with the administrators on campus to discuss the money in the Student Life Fund -- a buffer fund for non-alcoholic events sponsored by various student organizations on campus.
"Before the [2005-2006 school year] starts, we have to have those funds earmarked," Katzin said.
Goldberg said that he was a little disappointed about the results, but that he still believes next year will be a good one for the TCU Senate.
"[Katzin] is a very capable person, and I am looking forward to working with him in the future," he said. Goldberg also said that he will remain on the TCU Senate, because he said he thinks it is important for him to do so.
Despite his loss, Goldberg said he still has not lost sight of his plans for improvement on campus for next year. "I will continue to push for the things I had been talking about during my campaign," he said.
According to the ELBO press release, breakdowns of voter participation by class will be compiled today.
