ASUWT election results announced for upcoming 2019-20 school year
Sophomore Vincent Da has taken victory as president in the 2019-2020 Associated Students of the University of Washington Tacoma election.
Results were announced Wednesday, May 22 in the Center for Student Involvement. This year’s voting period was open May 13–17 and had the highest voter turnout of the past few years. Out of the 3,194 registered students to ASUWT, a total of 593 voted in this year’s election — a 30 percent increase in voter turnout from just last year.
“The main two things that I want to focus on is getting food trucks on campus… And then [I also want] to get more funding for the pantry through the Tacoma Strategic Initiative fund.”
Vincent Da
Da, who was running independently, won with a total of 252 votes. Of the other presidential candidates, LaKeisha Morris and Chase Powell both received 121 votes and Arthur Lovett received 85 votes.
In addition to the presidential race, several other positions were filled for the board and senate. As elected officials, board directors and senators represent the student body, listen to students’ concerns, promote campus engagement and offer opinions and statements on behalf of the student population
Thaddeus Hug won the position for Engineering and Technology senator with four write-in votes, and some of the senate positions — Education, Healthcare & Leadership, Social Work & Criminal Justice, Urban Studies and the second Undeclared senator — received write-in votes and have yet to be confirmed with the write-in candidates.
Da, who currently works at the UWT Pantry, is a Pack Advisor and serves as the ASUWT Undeclared senator, has big plans for next year and wants to focus on two things — expanding food options on campus and raising awareness for the Pantry.
“The main two things that I want to focus on is getting food trucks on campus,” Da said. “I was already doing research on [this]. There are some local food trucks up the hill from us at Bates Technical College and they have the culinary arts program, and they have their own food trucks. [I want to] … reach out to them. There’s some around sixth avenue and the Tacoma area that I could potentially reach out to. And then [I also want] to get more funding for the Pantry through the Tacoma Strategic Initiative fund.”
“I want to thank everyone for supporting me through the election”
Vincent Da
In addition, Da also wants to reach out to registered student organizations, create collaborations and continue projects that the current ASUWT administration has worked on this year.
“I’ll continue their legacy,” Da said.
Da, the board of directors and senators will attend a mandatory luncheon with the current ASUWT leadership on May 31, and will officially begin their new roles after commencement on June 17. They will then undergo mandatory training from June 19-21.
The new ASUWT leadership’s campaigning has paid off, and Da is grateful for his friends and peers that convinced him to run and his campaign manager and supporters.
“I want to thank everyone for supporting me through the election,” Da said. “I couldn’t [have done] it without them.”
2019-2020 ASUWT representatives:
Board:
President: Vincent Da
Director of University Affairs: Laurel Hicks
Director of Outreach: Margarita Daisy Gonzalez
Director of Finance: Eunice Yang
Director of Student Technology: John Nguyen
Director of Internal Affairs: Kirsten Hargett
Director of Legislative Affairs: Shelton Wright
Senate:
Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences: Gina Choi and Alexandra Dogbe
Business: Drew Dunston
Undeclared: Seonhwa Pak
Engineering and Technology: Thaddeus Hug
