Associated Students Inc. Chief of Staff Joe Phillips received 50.57 percent of votes cast in the ASI election, defeating ASI Treasurer Agatha Gucyski by 47 votes to win the presidency.
Phillips, ASI Secretary for Systemwide Affairs Nayiri Baghdassarian and the additional 11 candidates who ran on the Students for Diverse Leadership ticket won their respective positions.
Baghdassarian, who ran alongside Phillips, won 58.19 percent of the vote, beating out Anh Tran, a senator for the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, to become the ASI vice president for 2014-15.
A run-off election for ASI treasurer will take place in April, between current ASI Senator-at-Large Dominique Noble and Kalien Clark. Noble and Clark received roughly 48 percent and 40 percent of the votes for treasurer, respectively.
ASI Executive Director Richard Haller said 4,127 students voted in the election, which is approximately 12 percent the total campus population.
“I was certainly worried about the voter turnout at first, but I’m glad to see we exceeded 4,000,” Haller said. “I was very surprised at how the margins were so close, especially for president. It really shows the importance of voting.”
Gucyski, who narrowly lost to Phillips, said that she was disappointed with the turnout and the lack of student participation in this year’s elections.
“I just wish there was a higher voter turnout, obviously, and I wish there was more excitement for the campaign,” she said. “I think students didn’t really get to know the candidates this year.”
Gucyski said her biggest concern, though, is with whoever takes over her position as treasurer.
“I want to make sure that whoever is in office of treasurer is a really good candidate,” she said. “Someone that students can trust, someone who will do a really good job, and someone who will make sure students get taken care of.”
Clark, who ran on the same ticket as Gucyski and Tran, said she is excited to have the opportunity to move forward and potentially win in the run-off election.
“Even if I do get the position with two candidates that I did not run with, I am happy to work together to get things done,” Clark said. “This is really what it’s all about, helping the students and putting aside past differences and past tickets and just working together as a team.”