Two days after the official election for Student Services Vice President, candidate Nate Perkins was back at the Arch, handing out flyers bearing his name.
The race for SSVP was thrown to a run-off election being held today when neither of the two major candidates received more than 50 percent of the vote.
Perkins, a McCormick sophomore, said he has a “more guarded optimism” about the results of the election today.
“I’m pretty nervous about it,” he said. “I think definitely the other day put things into perspective. The results were pretty unexpected, I think, for my campaign, so we had to kind of go back and regroup, and come out strong yesterday and today.”
One concern Perkins said he has is that students who voted Tuesday will not vote again today.
“You don’t know where the numbers fell in the original one in terms of the people that tend to only vote once. Did more of those people’s votes make up the 46 percent that I got or the 37.7 percent that Harry got?” Perkins said, referring to his opponent, Hariharan “Harry” Vijayaraghavan.
Perkins said his campaign strategy has changed between Tuesday and today. Originally the campaign had focused on the quality of his message, and his endorsements, to raise support.
“I think the results of the election on Tuesday showed that a big part of this campaign is just getting your name out there because some people don’t pay as much attention to the vice presidential races,” he said.
As for last-minute campaign strategies, Perkins said he’s focusing on getting students to vote.
“Just doing as much as we can to get the word out, get people to vote,” he said.
– Phillip Swarts
As the final reckoning nears for the Sales-Griffin and Crain campaigns, Sales-Griffin campaign manager Ben Armstrong said on the hectic day, the campaign had much to do to drive up historically low turnout for a runoff election.
“We’re focusing on meeting as many people as possible and telling them to get out and vote,” the Weinberg Freshman said. “Not for Neal specifically, but we feel that if there’s a large enough turnout than the turnout will be in our favor.”
Armstrong said the reaction he had been recieving was better than he had expected.
“I was surprised at the amount of people who said they had already voted, because I did not see a ton of publicity,” Armstrong said. “I’m guessing between 1,500 and 2,000 (people will vote) and my guess before would’ve been closer to 1,000.”
While Armstrong said he was focused on his own race, he did say Crain’s use of a megaphone at the Rock earlier that morning may have violated Center for Student Involvement regulations on the matter.
“The bullhorn raises some questions,” Armstrong said. “The CSI bans any ‘amplified sounds’ from being at the Rock before 5 p.m. and you need a permit regardless.”
Standing next to Armstrong was campaigner Paul David Shrader, who would occasionally roll off to greet voters on his scooter and roll back to get more stickers to give to them.
The Weinberg Junior, who wore two foot highstilts on Tuesday while campaigning, is merely dressed as a cowboy today.
“If I give them a nice smile and tip my hat, they’ll smile back to me,” Shrader said. “And then I can say ‘Have you voted today and if not, why aren’t you voting?’”
– Michael Gsovski
7:45 p.m.
Although some may view experience as a plus to an ASG candidate, Nate Perkins said it was an obstacle his campaign for student services vice president, had to overcome.
“I think there was a lot of weight put on whether you were an insider or an outsider on ASG,” he said.
Perkins, who has served on the Student Services Committee, said the stigma was that everyone in ASG is of the same mindset and will want to maintain the status quo within the organization next year.
“Even though I have experience I can offer change,” Perkins said.
With about an hour to go before the results are announced, Perkins said he feels his chances of being elected look good.
“I think we really created a solid platform,” he said. “I think it’s been a solid campaign all around.
Both Perkins and his opponent, Hariharan “Harry” Vijayaraghavan, cater to different audiences, Perkins said.
“With so many people coming out this year and with so much interest, its still up in the air,” he said.
Yet Perkins said he is pleased with the endorsements he has gotten.
“There’s definitely been a good show of support,” he said.
– Phillip Swarts
7:00 p.m.
As an eventful day of campaigning winds down, Neal Sales-Griffin is unavailable for comment. He’s still on the campaign trail, and up on north campus where there is spotty cell phone reception, NSG campaign manager Ben Armstrong said.
“This afternoon, Neal started going around the dorms,” the Weinberg Freshman said. “He started at Allison and he made his way up North and he’s currently either in Elder or Bobb.”
Armstrong said this has been a busy day for the candidate, beginning this morning greeting students on south campus between classes.
“We had our strategy laid out last night in 15-minute intervals,” Armstrong said. “During passing time, Neal would be by the Rock or some other public place, the Arch or the Rock, really.”
Accompanying Griffin were campaign strategist and blogger Paul David Schrader and co-campaign manager Cody Radhua.
Armstrong said with the vote’s importance, the two pulled out all the stops.
“Though we’ve run a very professional campaign thus far, we pulled out some stunts today,” Armstrong said. “(Schrader) was at the Rock, handing out quarter sheets on stilts, while my fellow campaign manager Cody (Radhua) was wearing a pirate hat.”
– Michael Gsovski
6:25 p.m.
Eljay is back and so are the jokes. Weinberg sophomore and ASG presidential candidate Luke Adams is spending the afternoon campaigning at Norris University Center dressed as his alter-ego rapper.
“This is how I use my creativity and my love of performance to engage students before I get down to the nitty gritty issues,” Adams said.
Don’t let the costume and funny accent fool you – Adams is serious about the issues, he said. He uses his jokes to make people comfortable and hear what’s important to them.
“People really open up when you come off your high horse,” Adams said.
Adams, the youngest candidate, said that if he didn’t win he would still try and get involved with ASG.
“I think I’m the true outsider,” Adams said. “I’m confident but it’s not make or break.”
– Kirsten Salyer
This afternoon, ASG presidential candidate Scott Burton has traveled from Northwestern’s Deep South to far North and back again, introducing himself to students and spreading his message of “simple” solutions.
6:20 p.m.
Burton has focused his campaign on campus safety and sustainability issues, as well as the need to reform ASG to better fit students’ needs. He is grateful to his campaign team for helping him make the most of Election Day.
“I’m very happy with the way my team has been doing things today, and I think we really talked to a lot of people and got a lot of people interested that otherwise might not have been,” he said.
In the last few hours before the polls close, Burton and his team are planning to visit residential dining halls and make sure everyone voted. He will be with his campaign team at a friend’s apartment when the results are announced later this evening.
– Steven Berger
5:30 p.m.
With less than three hours remaining, Academic Vice Presidential candidate Usman Mian isn’t wasting a minute continuing to get his name out to students. The Weinberg junior has already spent the entire day campaigning around campus and now he’s visiting dorms.
“I’m still feeling pretty confident,” he said. “Most of the people I’ve talked to said they already voted for me so that’s good.”
But Mian said he doesn’t want to jump to conclusions.
“I know it’s going to be a close race,” he said.
Looking back on this past week, Mian said he has run into several obstacles and there are a few things he wishes he would have done differently.
“I definitely would have spent more time organizing my Election Day plan,” he said.
As the final hour approaches, Mian admits he’s getting more and more anxious.
“I’m just ready to get this thing over with,” he said.
– Alexandra Finkel
5:49 p.m.
Just about two hours before the election results will be announced, Weinberg junior Mark Crain is having a relaxing dinner at Plex before he begins his final stretch for ASG president. Crain said the day has been long and he estimates that he and his campaign team handed out somewhere between 400 to 500 flyers today.
“I had a few classes where I may have missed out on some key periods, but I think I’ve reached a lot of people at the Rock,” Crain said. ”People have said, ‘We’re going to vote for you,’ a lot said, ‘I already voted for you,’ and then a bunch I’m pretty sure just lied so that I would get out of their face.”
Crain plans to walk around after dinner and visit a few more dining halls before the final hour. Still, the ASG presidential hopeful has no firm idea of where he stands as of now.
“I have absolutely know clue,” he said. “I’m just waiting for 8 o’clock to hit when I get the call.”
– Ashley Lau
5:38 p.m.
With fewer than three hours left till the polls close, Blake Yocom and his campaign continue to seek out students who have yet to cast their vote.
The Weinberg junior said he has “no idea” where he stands in the polls.
“It’s a really interesting year,” he said “More people are involved and I think more people are going to vote than in years past.”
Yocom is running as an ASG outsider – he has no formal experience with ASG but hopes students will evaluate his candidacy based on his ideas.
“I think I’ve set the tone this year,” he said. ”The student body wanted someone outside of ASG to bring new ideas and new enthusiasm.”
The presidential candidate said he wished he had gotten started with the organization earlier, but at the same time believes he offers a fresh perspective to NU’s student government.
“I’ve only been running for a few weeks,” he said. ”I’m glad I haven’t been running for this position for two years. It’s like a catch-22.”
– Nathalie Tadena
5:18 p.m.
With less than three hours to go before the polls close, Harry Vijayaraghavan is doing it all — going to class, going to work and still managing to campaign along the way. The Weinberg junior is trying to get in some last-minute campaigning where he can.
“I work at Blomquist, so I’m going to be there handing out fliers,” he said. “There’s been a lot of waving and being like, ‘Here’s a flier, here’s a free drink.’”
But Vijayaraghavan has encountered his share of stubborn non-voters as well.
“It’s frustrating to reach out to people and say, ‘Hey, did you vote?’ and have them be like, ‘No,’” he said. “They just say they don’t see the point.”
Still, Vijayaraghavan said he’s not sure what to expect.
“I really with I knew,” he said. “But you really have no indication at all.”
– Christina Chaey
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