By Peter Baugher
Staff Writer
Franciscan University Student Government (FUSG) resolved a tie in the 2023 presidential election during its April 19 meeting.
On April 18, Franciscan students voted for class senators, student body president and vice president for the 2023-2024 academic year.
The vote for presidency ended in a tie between Stefan Fianderio and Gabe Denley, with 277 votes for each candidate.
According to senators, a tie has never happened in the history of Franciscan. The tie was resolved by a vote of the eleven senators.
After senators voted by secret ballot on pieces of scrap paper, the judges left the room to count the votes. Vice President Caleb Rider gave his vote separately, as his vote is not counted outside of a tie within the senate body itself.
The Gabe Denley and Caline Najm ticket won the vote by a single vote in a 6 to 5 majority, the justices announced after counting the votes.
It was not announced if Rider’s vote was necessary to break the tie.
Before the vote, President Jared Johnson told both candidates and their teams that both of them are strong candidates and that he recognizes how hard it is for the election to come down to the eleven votes of the senate.
The rising senior class elected Joe Prendergast and Francis Langley to senate. Catriona Fahey won on the junior ballot, but as she is a senior by credit, Fahey cannot take the junior seat.
As a result, FUSG will hold an internal election next week to determine the third senior senator.
The rising junior class elected Peter Sammons and Maria Tortorelli to the senate. Due to Fahey’s inability to assume office as a junior, Student Government selected Peter Lim as the third junior candidate.
The rising sophomore class elected Veronica MacDonald, Noah Pollard and Kristi Lange to the senate.
In other news, the Finance Committee did not approve Spring Bill 30, which allocated funds to the Young Americans Foundation (YAF) for purchase of American flags for a 9/11 memorial.
Freshmen Sen. Paul Ward said that the flags that YAF already has are in good condition.
Sen. James Duarte moved for a vote from the senate to override the committee’s rejection of the bill, but the vote failed.
The senate approved a bill to allocate funds for the Political Science Association for the annual Brownson/Scanlan lecture.