Darren Tomasso to lead Class Board 2017

The newest members of the Undergraduate Assembly and Class Board 2017 were announced Friday night by the Nominations and Elections Committee.

College freshman Darren Tomasso is the newest Class Board president, winning with 379 votes. College freshman Max Levy will serve as executive vice president.

Unlike many of his fellow candidates, Tomasso campaigned almost entirely by word of mouth and does not have a Facebook account. However, despite his lack of a Facebook presence, Tomasso said he “[wanted] to express to the freshmen class that they can come up to me whenever they want and express what their ideas are.”

Eight new UA members were also elected out of the 23 freshman who ran. Engineering freshman Angela Ni led the winners with 406 votes.

Related: Class of 2017: Get your name out

According to the NEC, this year’s election saw a record high voter turnout rate of 72 percent — or nearly 1,800 students. This is the highest rate since the group first started keeping track of the data in 2010.

This is also the first election season in which the NEC is measuring voter turnout in terms of voters who participated in at least one ballot. Previously, turnout was calculated based on the total number of votes for Class Board president candidates, meaning there was no distinction between those who voted for one position and those who voted for five positions.

Last year’s voter turnout, according to a recalculation by the NEC under their new method, was 58 percent.

Engineering junior and NEC’s Vice Chair for Elections Frederick Ding noted that each vote does count, citing the close margin between the two candidates for vice president of finances on the Class Board. College freshman Andrew Klimaszewski bested the runner-up, College freshman Shresta Balachandar, by only six votes, 461 – 455.

Unlike last year, this year’s elections saw no violations submitted by the NEC or by the candidates.
Related: Freshman, Class Board results announced after two day delay

College freshman Alexander George, who was elected as a UA representative, said he is looking forward to representing his class this year.

“I just can’t wait to kind of get to know everyone and get started.”

Class Board 2017
President: Darren Tomasso
Executive Vice President: Max Levy
VP External: Allyson Ahlstrom
VP Internal: Sara Schuster
VP Finances: Andrew Klimaszewski
SAS Chairs: Alex Howell, Rhea Singh
SEAS Chair: Angela Ni
Wharton Chair: Matt Immerso
Nursing Chair: Marcus Henderson

Class of 2017 UA representatives
Angela Ni
Henry Hawbaker
Alexander George
Kat McKay
Natalie Hernandez
Daniel Kahana
Aymen Saleem
Margaret Li

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