Recount confirms
Okahana’s vice presidency
By Allison Baldwin
Online Forty-Niner
Editorial Assistant
Hironao Okahana was confirmed as the elected Associated Student Inc. vice president
Tuesday night after ASI members met in the Senate Chambers to recount the votes
cast for the position at candidate Juancarlos Mariano’s request.
Led by Elections Commissioner Courtney Ronald, three teams recounted the 1,206
run-off ballots cast April 4 and 5.
The recount began at 7:45 p.m. and lasted nearly an hour. Each count was triple-checked.
The group intended to meet at 6:30 p.m., but the Senate Chambers were not available
until 7:30 p.m. Due to miscommunication on the location where the group was to
meet, two of the people recounting the votes arrived late.
Mariano said he requested the recount because he wanted “to receive a more
accurate vote and to double check.”
“Electronic devices can be inaccurate,” he said.
After the votes were tallied and the percentages were calculated on a cell phone
calculator, Ronald announced the results. Okahana received 592 votes, or 49.807
percent of the ballots, and Mariano earned 585 votes, or 48.508 percent of the
total ballots. Twenty-four voters did not vote for vice president and five ballots
were marked with votes for both Mariano and Okahana. ASI President-Elect for
2006-07 term Shefali Mistry and supporters for Mariano sat in the gallery waiting
for the results. His supporters consoled him after the recount confirmed Okahana
was the winner.
After learning of his loss by seven votes, Mariano said he felt “at ease.” He
said he had a backup plan set up in case he lost the recount.
“ I have an internship offer with a company called A.G. Edwards which I
was planning to pass up if I were to have won the election.”
Newly elected Sen.-Elect Austin Meiners, College of the Arts for 2006-07, said
he thought the recount was worthwhile.
“ I’m glad they did a recount,” Meiners said. “It shows
it was very close. I don’t think it was irrelevant or a waste of time.
Seven votes means everything when you only have 1,200 votes.”
“ I was just surprised it happened,” Sen.-at-Large Guido D’Onofrio
said. “I look forward to working with Hiro next year, regardless of the
results.”
Okahana was not present at the recount.
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