Running on a platform of “putting students first,” Cepeda and Betancourt receive 58.1 percent of the WSU Vancouver student body vote
Coverage by Cameron Kast and Bailley Simms.
The votes are in and next year’s Associated Students of Washington State University Vancouver president and vice president will be Davina Cepeda and Ana Betancourt.
“I am very shocked but very grateful and I really, really appreciate all the people that support me and Ana [Betancourt],” president-elect Cepeda said after the results were announced. Betancourt, Cepeda’s running mate and vice president-elect, was unable to attend the results announcement due to being in Olympia for her current ASWSUV position as director of legislative affairs. However, Cepeda had Betancourt on video chat during the results reading, and after hearing of her new position, Betancourt wrote on Facebook, “I honestly want to thank them [Marander and Sise] for keeping the elections super professional and drama free!!!” She added, “I have so many emotions that I can’t share with y’all just yet!! I’ll probably post something meaningful tomorrow. For now, I’m celebrating with the other liaisons from Central, Eastern and Western!!”
This election marks Cepeda’s second presidential win at WSU Vancouver. In last year’s ASWSUV election, Cepeda ran on a ticket with current ASWSUV president, Vince Chavez, as vice president. Their ticket won with 55 percent of the vote, however, due to her position on the 2017-18 ASWSUV Election Board, Cepeda’s election was invalidated by the ASWSU Pullman Judicial Board.
Presidential candidate Lindsay “Elle” Marander responded to Cepeda and Betancourt’s victory, stating “I hope that they can uphold their message that we shared similarly.” Vice presidential candidate Naffiesatou “Naffie” Sise added to Marander’s statement, “I’m confident in both Ana [Betancourt] and Davina [Cepeda],” continuing with, “I’m glad I lost to them and not anyone else.”
Cepeda said to celebrate she is, “trying to get [Ana Betancourt] to go and get wings on Friday because she’s always wanting wings.”
According to Mitchell Carey, the head of the 2018-19 ASWSUV Election Board, Cepeda and Betancourt won with 58.1 percent of the vote. Carey said that Marander and Sise received 37.4 percent.
Prior to announcing the results, Carey read a statement on behalf of the ASWSUV Election Board, stating, “We thank all candidates for the honorable manner in which they conducted themselves throughout this election cycle. Their [the candidates] engagement in this process reflected well on our university and has given us all reason to be proud.”
On the ballot this year was an amendment to the ASWSUV constitution, calling for an increase of Judicial Board members from three to five. Due to total voter turnout falling below the required 20 percent (turnout reached 11.7 percent) in order to approve the constitutional amendment, the amendment did not pass.
Training for next year’s leadership position starts tomorrow, according to current ASWSUV President Vince Chavez. During this training period, the 2019-20 president and vice president-elect will shadow the current ASWSUV president and vice president.
“I feel really good and confident that this will be a smooth transition,” Chavez said, with regards to the election results and his new trainee. “I’m excited to work with the new president and vice president.”
The ballot also listed nine senator candidates. However, eleven senators were elected by the student body, with two write-in candidates receiving votes. The eleven elected senators are: Abigail Gligor, Brad Kincaid (write-in), Connor Brown, Garrett Cayan, Janet Jimenez, Katheryn Twombly, Lucas Gubala (write-in), Matthew Leeper, Maxem Bratkov, Micah Black and Tom Holtslander.
“I’m really excited to see what Ana [Betancourt] and Davina [Cepeda] do for our school,” digital technology and culture major and WSU Vancouver student Betsy Hanrahan said regarding the election results. “They’ve already done so much in their positions on student government and I’m interested to see what they do to take it to the next level.”