Voters choose to 'Connect' in RHA

The Connect ticket swept the Residence Halls Association elections Tuesday -- and again Friday. \nDespite the initial decision being postponed because of Eigenmann Hall's ballot box opening three hours late, the winners remained the same. \nThe polls were open in Eigenmann Hall for three hours Friday to make up for Tuesday's lost time. \nThe four Connect candidates beat their respective Amplify opponents, each by more than 80 votes, with the Connect presidential candidate, junior John Palmer, beating senior Jon Greene by more than 140 votes, said Elections Commissioner Eric Hafner. \nHafner said of the 10,000 residents of the dorms eligible to vote, less than 1,200 turned out election day.\nPalmer attributed Connect's victory to good campaigning and a strong platform.\n"We worked really hard to make sure that our issues were solid," Palmer said. "And we made every effort to talk to as many students as possible."\nSophomore Joe Reid, who won the election for vice president of internal affairs, said the party plans to fulfill its campaign promises now that it has been elected.\n"We will serve the residents and stick to our platform," he said.\nJunior Randall Sundt, the vice president of student affairs-elect, said he is relieved the elections are finally over. \n"I think the weight of all the elections stuff has been off my shoulders," Sundt said. "I feel much less stressed out." \nHe said the new administration plans to establish a new board of programmers, which is responsible for planning all of the RHA events, as one of its first initiatives. Sundt also said one of his big priorities will be to attend as many individual residence center board of governor's meetings as possible in an effort to better understand the needs of the students.\nSophomore Victor Grossi, who won the position of vice president of programming, said he hopes to get as much student involvement in RHA programs as possible. \n"Because students pay an activity fee, I want to make sure that they get the most of it," he said. "It wouldn't be fair if they didn't." \nHe said he wants to foster more communication between programmers both on the center-level and the RHA level.\nThough his party filed a number of complaints against Connect, Greene said all of the candidates for both tickets were excellent leaders and would work hard to make RHA better for the students. He offered some parting advice to Connect and its members.\n"Do everything that you can to get out there and to listen to every resident you can."\n-- Contact staff writer Michael Zennie at mzennie@indiana.edu.