Mackenzie Mertikas answered a phone call at about 12:10 am on Friday with her running mate, Sameeha Saied, squeezing her hand. A room that was first blasting with Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” and the voices of over 20 people was now in complete silence.

The call was from a committee representative from Student Association telling Mertikas and Saied that they had just won the 2019 election.

The living room of their Comstock Avenue apartment erupted in cheers and DJ Khaled’s “All I Do is Win.” Friends hugged the trembling winners as they slowly exited the room to call their family members.

Mertikas and Saied said they were surprised by the results, but added that it means they ran a great race.

Talia Trackim | Digital Design Director

“It’s really awesome that there was such huge competition between the candidates because usually everyone knows who’s going to win,” Mertikas said.

Their first step will be to have a discussion with SA about respect and accountability.

“We want to make sure they know we are in these positions to help the student body and make their experience better here on campus. We’re here for them and not for ourselves,” they said.

Mertikas and Saied are most excited about meeting more people because they have met so many organizations so far during the campaign.

Current SA President Ghufran Salih and Vice President Kyle Rosenblum attended the party to congratulate the winning candidates.

“They are going to do an absolutely incredible job when they transition to their roles as president and vice president, and I can’t wait to help them with that transition,” Rosenblum said.

Mertikas and Saied have said they hope their identities will empower women in a male-dominated political climate.

Their campaign focused on five principles: diversity and inclusion, financial accessibility, accountability and transparency, health and wellness and community engagement, according to their campaign website.

Mertikas and Saied met through their involvement in SU “Stressbuster” events and Mental Health Awareness Week. Last November, Mertikas asked Saied to be her running mate.

Health and wellness is an essential part of their campaign, specifically students’ mental health. They said they plan to make staff more reliable for students by requiring them to receive mental health training. The two also want to inform students about the resources covered by SU’s health and wellness fee.

As reflected in their slogan, “Start the wave,” Mertikas and Saied said have said they hope to use student interests to initiate change. They plan to include students in the decision-making processes in the upcoming year.

Meanwhile, at a Madison Street apartment, SA presidential candidate Ryan Golden sat with his hands covering his face as Sophia Faram, SA’s elections and membership chair, called him around 12:15 a.m.

Kailee Vick (left), Ryan Golden (middle) and Quincy Nolan (right) received the results of the election in a phone call Thursday night. Kevin Camelo | Web Developer

Throughout the night, his party — about half a dozen people — reminisced about a long month of campaigning. Golden said he remembered their flyers getting taken off poles, rifts with other campaigns and their managers over the past month. They counted down the hours and minutes until voting closed until midnight when they waited for the call.

The number of votes Merikas’ and Saied’s campaign won by is unclear.

Jalen Nash and Raymond Perez, the third group of candidates for president and vice president, declined to have reporters at their election event.

Stacy Omosa, a sophomore political major, won SA’s election for comptroller by 99 votes, according to SA.

SA’s comptroller oversees the Finance Board, a 12-member committee in that allocates between $3 to 4 million to registered student organizations every academic year.

Eduardo Gomez’s comptroller campaign was suspended less than 20 minutes before voting closed at midnight, Faram announced in an email to SA members.

“An individual connected with the Gomez campaign slandered an opponent in order to gain an unfair advantage,” part of the email stated. “The Board of Elections and Membership will be releasing a full report detailing the violations and our findings.”

Some students commented on SA’s Instagram page calling the comptroller election “rigged” following the announcement of Gomez’s suspension from the campaign. SA’s account posted the suspension announcement, but later deleted it. The account also turned off commenting on several posts, but later reinstated it.

DISCLAIMER: Jalen Nash is an assistant copy editor in The Daily Orange’s features department. He does not cover Student Association, report for or edit with The D.O.’s news staff.

– Asst. News Editor Gabe Stern contributed reporting to this story

Published on April 12, 2019 at 1:53 am

Contact Abby: akweiss@syr.edu | @abbyweiss_21