2018 OSA Elections Results

1,297 students cast their votes to decide the UW Oshkosh Student Association president, vice president and senator-elect for next term, starting May 1 the week before spring break.

It was the highest voter turnout at UWO in eight years, OSA chief of staff Alex Novak said, with about nine percent of students filling out a ballot.

Presidential election

Current senator Ronisha Howard and former senator Goodwill Obieze won the president and vice president positions with 593 votes. Current OSA vice president Brett Spangler ran for the presidential position with Chase Reljic as his running mate, and the duo collected a total of 388 votes.

Candidates Bryan Carter and Andrew Mertins rounded out the election with a total of 360 votes.

According to the OSA Election Brochure, Howard hopes to “create a safer campus community, increase minimum wage for campus jobs, [and tackle] parking issues” during her time as president.

Howard said she was excited about the record breaking turnout in a Facebook post and that she will not let down the students who supported her campaign.

“While this was a long and difficult process, I just want to thank God, all the students that voted and all the support we received,” Howard wrote.

Howard and Obieze campaigned for making UWO a more open space for all students to discuss issues concerning the campus.

The duo also used the hashtag #SuitUpForChange to promote their campaign, which means making students “to be more open minded and inclusive on and off campus.”

Senatorial election

Jacob Barnfield and Anton Sederquist were voted as the two senator-elects for next term.

After winning one of the spots with 930 votes, Jacob Banfield quickly resigned from his current position due to disagreeing with how the election committee handled the election, according to a post on his Facebook.

Novak confirmed that Barnfield is currently no longer a senator for OSA.

“He has stepped down from a senator position for the remainder of this year, but then starting up in May again, he will become a senator again,” Novak said. “His days in OSA are not over, they are just done for the next couple of weeks.”

Banfield stated in his Facebook post he was disappointed with an allegation that Howard violated voting bylaw 1.9.2 on 15 separate occasions. The bylaw mentions how presidential tickets must include a disclaimer of authorization and funding for outreach material and Howard did not comply with this law.

Banfield continued to add to his Facebook post, stating he was disappointed with how the OSA Election Commission handled the situation.

“I will always pursue policies that promote the interests of students and feel I can no longer do that being a member of the Senate,” Banfield wrote on facebook. “I will always follow the laws we have in place, not disregard them like the Commission decided to do.”

Novak added that stepping down from his current position will allow Banfield to focus on himself.

“As he may be a little frustrated with where OSA is at right now, I know he is a very busy man,” Novak said. “This may be just a little bit to take him back down, taking a step back to take a little bit of time for himself and focus on other things. But he values the students’ voices and he wants to be able to represent students.”

Current OSA president Jared Schadrie said Banfield’s decision to step down for the rest of the current semester should not affect students’ opinions about him.

“He had those votes in and he was voted for next year,” Schadrie said. “This year wasn’t really on the table for the election. I don’t think whatever he does this year will affect that.”