Junior agriculture economics major Bobby Smith, junior accounting major Edward Carrigan and junior political science major Kristopher Taylor emerged as the Student Government Association 2010-11 president, vice president, and comptroller after yesterday’s elections.
Smith, who obtained a total of 515 votes, heavily outweighed both his opponents, junior history major Bradford Traywick, who racked up 148 votes, and junior history major Kyle Maronie, who came in with 131 votes.
Using the platform, “Restoration of Student Life,” Smith won after serving in SGA for the past two years as vice president of academic affairs. The 21-year-old Fort Worth native will continue to serve as president of Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS), a position he has held since his freshman year in 2007.
Smith said, “I will impact the student body by doing what the students want, implementing programs, and doing everything that needs to be done for the students, because without the students there would be no Prairie View A&M University. I look forward to leading next semester.”
Accompanying Smith in office will be Carrigan, who won the election with a total of 721 votes as a lone candidate in this year’s election and Taylor who beat his opponent, junior accounting major Justin Johnson, by more than 100 votes.
Only about 10 percent of the student body population participated in this year’s election. However, according to current SGA Vice President Roderick Shavers, the number of students who voted didn’t affect the margin of victory for the presidential race.
Shavers said, “There’s only a certain percentage of students who are actually interested in the politics within SGA, what makes Prairie View work, and what powers students have to shape this university. Whether or not we had more students to vote, the outcome would’ve remained the same, because only those who really care about these types of things show up at the polls.”