Divya Jakatdar (P) and Michelle Lu (VP) were elected tonight as the next president and vice president of USC’s Undergraduate Student Government for the 2023-24 academic year with 38.12% of the vote.
In addition, 12 out of the 16 candidates were elected to the USG Senate for the 2023-24 academic year.
The senate forum was filled with candidates and student government officials, along with about 100 students who supported the various tickets.
Following the Jakatdar and Lu victory, the ticket expressed their commitment to all undergraduate students on campus.
“We want to emphasize that we’re here to serve all students, no matter whether you voted for us or not,” Jakatdar said.
The total voter count was 4,105 a decrease from last year’s voting cycle. To win the election a candidate must receive at least 33% of the votes, as per USG guidelines. Aidan Feighery (P) and Ashley Ka (VP) finished second with just under 20% of the vote. Jakatdar and Lu also defeated three other candidates pairs of Yoav Gillath (P) and Monica Rodriguez (VP), Miko Mariscal (P) and Andrew Taw (VP), and Devin Ayala (P) and Navya Singh (VP).
While the focus of Jakatdar and Lu’s candidacy is broad in scope, Jakatdar said organizing the Senators for next year will be her first course of action. “I think one issue that we have every year is that we push that off,” said Jakatdar. “Really, starting out with that kind of infrastructure will be our first goal.”
Tonight’s meeting was not only about USG’s presidential race. The meeting also confirmed that the 2023-2024 USG senators will be Emilia Bletsas, McKayla Dorantes, Bella Padilla, Julianna Melendez, Rudra Saigal, Bryan Fernandez, Brandon Tavakoli, Jake Zober, Halle Schaffer, Andrea Velazquez, AnnaOlivia Schwedt and Matthew Speier.
Official results will be released and certified by Campus Activities staff. Jakatdar and Lu and the 12 senators will begin serving in the fall semester.