By Erin Shanahan

Daniel Stroie and Eli Simon were elected executive president and vice president respectively of USG. Andrea Garcia/The Fordham Ram

In the most contested elections with the highest voter turn out this 2012, Daniel Stroie and Eli Simon, both GSB ’17, were announced as the executive president and vice president, respectively, of United Student Government (USG) at a quarter before 8 p.m.

This year’s election had the highest voter turnout since 2012. A total 1348 votes were cast by Fordham students.

The student body last year cast 579 votes. In 2014, 958 votes were cast, while 701 were cast the year before. 923 votes were cast in 2012.

Simon provided a statement to The Fordham Ram regarding the election results.

“Daniel and I deeply appreciate the opportunity to serve our Fordham community again this year. We will do our best to keep our campaign promises. We will continue to work with Sebastian and Matt to promote unity in our student government as we are one Fordham family. We look forward to working with all of you in the coming school year.”

The executive ticket was contested by Sebastian Albrecht and Matthew Santucci, both FCRH ’17.

Santucci provided the following statement on Facebook this evening:

“What we achieved was a victory in itself. We started this campaign a week ago and in that time we’ve built up a movement. The fact that voter turnout more than doubled from the previous year is a testament to student frustration with the administration and with the status quo. Incidentally, I would like to wish the best to the other ticket in their victory. My one admonition is that I urge you to listen to the students – give them a voice rather than solely relaying upon the administration and provide opportunities for their beliefs to be challenged.”

The other contested executive positions consisted of Vice President of Student Life, Vice President of Operations, and Vice President of Health and Safety.

Allison Kilbride was voted in as Vice President of Student Life while Doug Spring and Catherine Maccaro won Vice President of Operations and Vice President of Health and Safety, respectively.