Record Turnout Helps Elect Todd Stringer UW Student Body President 11 Votes To 8
Todd Stringer defeated Sarah London 11 votes to 8 in what is being touted as the closest Student Body President vote in UW-Madison history.
The election was already being called one of the most fiercely competitive in school history, as London and Stringer traded insults over the weekend in a desperate attempt to sway undecided voters.
London often referred to Stringer as a ""lazy, pizza-faced loser"" during her various campaign speeches this week, Stringer's camp fired back, calling London ""a manipulative whore who clearly can't bake,"" no doubt a dig at the fact that London baked cookies for six of the eventual 19 voters who participated in the election. Stringer's camp believes this was a blatant attempt at bribery, while London claims the cookies were made early Saturday morning for ""friends"" who were coming over that night to re-watch the six ""Star Wars"" installments in one sitting.
Despite the hateful campaign rhetoric, election organizers think there is much to be happy about, including the impressive voter turnout.
""There are nearly 29,000 undergraduate students eligible to vote for a candidate they feel most represents their beliefs and values, so to get 19 people to come out and vote, well, its pretty incredible,"" said 31-year-old election organizer Debby Bryant.
This year marked the highest voter turnout in UW-Madison election history, easily beating last year's record, when a whopping 14 voters went to the polls.
While being interviewed for this article, Todd Stringer told me that he did not take anything that London said about him during the campaign seriously.
""I don't take [Sarah] calling me a loser personally, and I would like to think she doesn't take the fact that I was calling her ‘an STD-ridden slut who fucks anything with more than one leg' personally either. In the end, we both say what we say because we are just so passionate about our policies, graduate school resumes and most importantly, this university. The rhetoric, it's all just politics baby, it's the game were in,"" Stringer said.
After the votes were tallied, London gave a concession speech where she applauded the campaign of Stringer, while also taking time to thank her supporters.
""First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who came out to vote for me: Julie, Monica, Sarah K., Steven, Sarah M., Lee, Terrence and especially Fred. And to Mr. Stringer I say congratulations, I hope the victory can fill that void in your heart and help you forget that your dirty campaign tactics have ensured you have absolutely no friends.""
When Stringer was asked how he would be celebrating his victory Saturday night, he said he would keep it ""low key."" After repeatedly being asked to elaborate, Stringer stated that he would be celebrating by watching ""Lord of the Rings: Return of the King"" by himself.
—Phil Vesselinovitch
