Kent State’s Undergraduate Student Government announced the winners of its election for the 2015-2016 school year on Tuesday evening.

Several top positions such as Executive Director, Director of Programming, Director of Business and Finance, and Director of Governmental Affairs all ran unopposed. Brian Cannon, Kevin Otubu, Colin Otubu and Domenic Cicchinelli, were all selected and voted to the positions, respectively.

With almost 20 available director and senator positions, a crowd gathered outside of USG’s office on the first floor of the Kent State Student Center to await the results. With the polls closing at 6 p.m., the electronic ballots were counted in just over an hour. The winners were then projected on the TV screen as candidates and students watched.

One of the most competitive positions sought after was Director of Student Involvement. Three students ran for the position, and Jonathan Benjamin, a junior marketing and economics major, ultimately won.

Benjamin spoke about the challenges of student involvement and his new position.

“With Director of Student Involvement, one of the big stresses is street team,” Benjamin said. “It’s kind of been historically lacking in the last couple years. It seems most people have discussed that the biggest problem students face is communication and knowing when things are happening, so by canvassing the campus with that information, it makes it much easier.”

Director of Student Involvement wasn’t the only close race. Senator for the College of Business Administration also saw three candidates vying for the position, which was won by Courtney Glenn, a junior managerial marketing major.

“I didn’t know what to expect coming into today with the results, but it’s unlike anything I’ve felt before, and I’m really excited to represent the student body,” Glenn said. “I want to focus on being the best possible liaison between all the College of Business (Administration) students and USG and relay that information to the deans. I want to be all about the students to see their concerns, needs and what they want implemented.”

The unofficial number of students who voted was 1,088, slightly down from last year’s elections. Lauren Malthaner, elections commissioner for USG, said it’s important for students to vote because they choose who is representing the entire Kent State student body.

“They make some pretty big decisions, such as who to bring and allocating money to different student organizations,” she said. “It’s important for students to know and be confident who they’re choosing.”

Malthaner said there were no major issues with the elections process or candidates.

“It went pretty smoothly,” Malthaner said. “Everyone pretty much ran a clean campaign, and we didn’t have to deal with any major issues.”

With the positions declared for 2015-2016, the elected candidates will begin to learn the ins and outs of their respective positions before being officially sworn in at the end of the semester.

For a full list of the elected candidates, visit KentStateUSG.com or check out USG’s Twitter page @KentStateUSG.

Contact Matt Poe at [email protected].