Empower ticket wins RHA elections

The Empower ticket swept Tuesday's Residence Hall Association elections, winning all four executive positions. \nWith a voter turnout of 12 percent, the residence hall population decided on the positions of RHA president, vice president of internal affairs, vice president of student affairs and vice president of programming.\nIn the only contested executive position, sophomore Erin Ransford defeated sophomore Stephanie Shaffer 431 to 349 for vice president of programming. \nShaffer said she knew it would be difficult to win and she was satisfied with the results.\n"I was very surprised to know how many votes I did get," Shaffer said. "I am just thankful that the election was fairly close."\nThe three remaining Empower candidates won their positions with minimal opposition. These uncontested elections were decided with a "yes or no" style ballot.\nSenior Ken Minami became the association president with 709 yes votes to 101 no votes. Sophomore Mary Moore became the vice president of internal affairs with 718 yes vote to 89 no votes. And senior Brian Holman, an IDS employee, became the vice president of student affairs with 712 yes votes to 101 no votes.\nMinami said he understood the low voter turnout and expressed his satisfaction with the campaign and election.\n"I think the voter turnout for the elections was about average, not great, but considering that only one of the RHA executive positions was contested, it's understandable," Minami said. "But honestly, I think the election and the campaigning from both tickets was the best in years. Both Smile and Empower had signs and flyers in each hall, as well as sidewalk chalkings to really try and engage the residents into the elections; something that I feel is extremely important, as it sets the tone for later."\nMinami said he hopes to follow the decentralization of the organization that this year's executives began.\n"I would like to continue with that decentralization," Minami said, "so that more members of RHA can have ownership and involvement with the activities of RHA."\nHe also said direct communication with residents will be an important part of his term.\n"One of the things that we plan on doing is to interact with residents on a weekly basis by holding office hours in the residence halls," Minami said. "We expect to completely revamp our Web page to better serve the residents, and we are also exploring the possibilities of communication through other media, such as newsletters, IDS (columns) and perhaps even the IUTV."\nAssociation election commissioners Chris Boudi and Joe Koleszar, both seniors, said they were pleased with this year's election.\n"We were very impressed with the voter turnout this year given the fact that only one RHA position was contested," Koleszar said.\nBoudi added his approval of the election.\n"Overall," Boudi said, "everyone in the centers ran a clean campaign"