Fusion Party wins SGA election

The Fusion Party swept the re-election for West Virginia University Student Government Association on Thursday after earning 71 percent of the votes.

Jason Bailey, the presidential candidate for the Fusion Party, and his running mate Megan Callaghan were elected to head next year's SGA administration. All 15 candidates elected to sit on next year's Board of Governors and the two candidates who will serve as Athletic Council, were all members of the Fusion Party.

"It has been a journey like no other," Bailey said. "The fact that its over and that we came out just means we have a lot of work to do, this is not a stopping point."

A total of 1,134 students voted in the election, less than 5 percent of the student body. In comparison, nearly 6,000 students voted in last year's SGA election.

This was the first election since 2005 in which an entire ticket has been elected; in that year, the party was unopposed. Bailey called the win "historic" and said he hoped the unity within his party would remain throughout the course of their term.

Ryan Campione received the most votes with 634, Rashad Bates came in second with 614 and Benjamin Seebaugh came in third with 579 votes.

Seebaugh said the strong sense of family that had developed during the campaign would help next year's BOG be affective leaders.

"I don't know how it is with other parties, but everyone on our ticket loves everyone else on our ticket," he said.

Current SGA President Chris Lewallen said he was not surprised at the straight-ticket win and said it reflected how the student body felt about the opposing Pirate Party.

"It just goes to show that poor leadership at the top can really hurt a ticket," he said.

Lewallen said he thought the best possible candidates for the job had been elected.

"I'm glad to passing it down to some good people who I think will work very hard for the student body," he said.

Daniel Brummage, the defeated presidential candidate for the Pirate Party, blamed his party's poor showing in the polls on the weather, apathetic students and the fact that voting was held on April 20, the unofficial day for smoking marijuana. Brummage said, despite these reasons, he considered the elections outcome to be legitimate.

"I congratulate them both," he said. "It's a reflection of the hard work they put in and the amount of support they had."

The Pirate Party received 29 percent of the total vote. Amadou Toure, a BOG candidate with the Pirate Party, received the highest number of votes of anyone in his party with 298. Toure was 201 votes short of winning a seat on the BOG. The candidate who received the fewest votes was Ryan Mulraney of the Pirate Party who received 31 fewer votes than independent candidate Mohamed Ali.

Full List of Winners:

President: Jason Bailey

Vice President: Megan Callaghan

BOG (in order of number of votes received)

1. Ryan Campione (634)

2. Rashad Bates (614)

3. Benjamin Seabaugh (579)

4. Isabelle Shepherd (578)

5. Zach Redding (574)

6. Matt Boczanowski (563)

7. Allison Rollins (550)

8. Caroline Springer (544)

9. Bridgette Boyd (542)

10. George Weaver (533)

11. Nicole Crane (533)

12. Tiffany Pratt (522)

13. Ray Zane (513)

14. Ellis Lambert (504)

15. Taj Rohr (498)

Athletic Council:

1. Steve Orlowski (650)

2. Zach Krebs (534)