SGA Election Results: Three Victories and a Runoff

On Friday, results from the Student Government Association election were announced. Robbie Meyer will be student body president, Avery Martinez will be external vice president, and Alissa Payne will be internal vice president.

There will be a runoff election between Cole McNiel and Shantanu Patil for the position of graduate vice president.

“I’m excited,” Ben Sharp, current student body president, said. “I think that some really great people got elected, and I’m sure they’re going to do a really good job.”

Robbie Meyer with his parents. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU

Student Body President: Robbie Meyer (Raiders Empowered)

“I’m ready to get to work. There’s a lot of initiative that we’ve had that people thought weren’t feasible or weren’t going to happen, so I’m here to prove them wrong.”

He said when it gets to be May 1, he will start working and there will be no stopping until the next May 1.

Avery Martinez. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU

External Vice President: Avery Martinez (Raiders Empowered)

“I’m a little overwhelmed right now, but I am so grateful to everyone that supported us along the way…I’m really ready to just get in there and start working.”

She said there are many things she is ready to change and implement, and all of the new executive members are ecstatic.

Alissa Payne (right) celebrating the results. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU

Internal Vice President: Alissa Payne (Raiders Empowered)

“I’m so honored to have run this race against such great competitors. It was a really hard race, I haven’t slept in months. But it was so much fun.”

She said there were many awesome people elected from both teams and she is excited to start working with the senators and making changes at Texas Tech.

The graduate vice president candidates. From left to right: Harley Puett, Shantanu Patil and Cole McNiel. Maddy McCarty/The Hub@TTU

Graduate Vice President: Shantanu Patil (Independent) or Cole McNiel (Raiders Empowered)

Shantanu Patil was named the graduate vice president. It was then discovered that he earned 49.7 percent of the vote, so there will be a runoff election between him and Cole McNiel, who earned 40.6 percent of the vote.

Runoff elections will take place Wednesday and Thursday, March 8 and 9.