Going into the Michigan Student Assembly elections last week, many candidates and assembly members thought this term would be dominated by strong party showings.
They were wrong.
In fact, of the record eight parties that fielded slates during this month's elections, only two succeeded in gaining vacant seats.
Instead, this election was dominated by independent candidates.
In recent elections it was rare for independent candidates to win vacant LSA assembly seats. But this term, independents Andy Schor and Barry Rosenberg - both incumbents - nabbed LSA seats.
Unofficial results show that only about 12 percent of LSA students cast ballots. Michigan Party chair and incumbent LSA Rep. Dan Serota retained his seat with the election's highest vote total.
"I think I've worked really hard for students," Serota said. "I'm really glad they appreciate what I'm doing and that I received so much support."
But it was Schor and Rosenberg who surprised others in the race. Not only did they retain their LSA seats, but they managed to achieve the second- and third-most LSA votes.
"I did a lot of things to increase my name recognition and visibility," Schor said. "Instead of running on the issues like a lot of people did, I ran on why I deserve to be on the assembly - anyone can work on these issues. I told people why that person should be me."
In addition to Serota's strong showing, Michigan Party candidates also took the fourth through seventh places in LSA balloting, and won three non-LSA seats.
The only other party to sponsor winners was the Crush the Purple Dinosaur Party. Aphrodite Nikolouski won the final LSA vacant seat, finishing eighth in the polls. Incumbent David Burden again secured an Engineering seat. Incumbent Mike Pniewski and newcomer Dean Chung also won Rackham seats under the Crush the Purple Dinosaur label.
Independents also fared well in Engineering. Both Mark Dub and incumbent Jasmine Khambatta finished first and second, respectively, without the aid of party affiliations.
Dub, who ran last term with the Wolverine Party, said he filed as an independent this term so he would not be constrained by party politics.
"I wanted to make sure my priorities and loyalties lie with the students of the College of Engineering and not to a political party " Dub said. "Whether you're running with a party or not, the campaign process is very grueling. In the end, not running with a party was not very important."
About 16 percent of Engineering students came out to vote.
The Michigan and Crush the Purple Dinosaur parties were the only slates that included assembly incumbents.
"I think you need incumbents because they know how to win," said MSA Vice President Probir Mehta. "You need some knowledge of the assembly and of the issues which incumbents can provide."
But being an incumbent did not guarantee candidates a victory. LSA incumbents and Michigan Party candidates Amer Zahr and Srinu Vourganti both fell short in their bids for re-election.
Vourganti, who finished ninth in overall LSA balloting, said his party was not to blame.
"We were damn successful," Vourganti said. "But this time independents won - that just doesn't normally happen on MSA."
The large number of parties also did not bring the high turnout MSA officials were expecting.
While election officials would not release voter turnout figures for the entire student body, low numbers were reported in all major schools.
According to these figures, election turnout was about average for winter-term assembly elections.
LSA
1. Dan Serota (Michigan Party)
2. Andy Schor (Independent)
3. Barry Rosenberg (I)
4. Jennifer Genovese (MP)
5. Mike Nagrant (MP)
6. Ian Lucas (MP)
7. Doug Yatter (MP)
8. Aphrodite Nikolouski (Crush the Purple Dinosaur Party)
Engineering
1. Mark Dub (I)
2. Jasmine Khambatta (I)
3. David Burden (CPDP)
Education
1. Rajeshri Gandhi (I)
Rackham
1. Joshua Trapani (I)
2. Mike Pniewski (CPDP)
3. Dean Chung (CPDP)
Music
1. Robert Myers (I)
School of Public Health
1. Jeffrey Holehausen (MP)
Social Work
1. Charity Bracy (I)
Kinesiology
1. Brad Holcman (MP)
Business Administration
1. Alex Pavlovsky (MP)