- Student voter rates lower than primary election
By LAURA ROMPF
Assistant News Editor
Brooke Norton did what Al Gore couldn't. By capturing 56 percent of the vote in Thursday's run-off, the current vice president became the first female student body president at Notre Dame.
"I am excited for this opportunity," Norton said. "This year is the 30th anniversary of women being admitted into Notre Dame, and we will have our first female student body president. I am very honored to have that privilege."
Norton is the first vice president to win the University's student body elections since incumbent Dennis Etienne won the presidency in 1973. Ryan Becker, along with running mate Nikki McCord, captured 42 percent of the vote in Thursday's run-off. Becker said he was proud of his campaign staff and thanked his supporters.
"I'm really proud of the race we ran," Becker said. "We picked up 500 votes today. It shows how hard we worked in the past week. I'm very proud."
Becker gave special thanks to Zahm Hall which had the highest voter turn-out on campus and awarded Becker 154 votes compared to Norton's 18.
"We have nothing to be ashamed of," Becker said. "Obviously, we wish we could've won, but we can walk out of here and hold our heads high."
Brian Moscona, the vice president-elect, said he is excited for the opportunity to serve the student body.
"We're going to work our butts off to make this a better campus and a better place for the student body," said Moscona. "I think there's a lot of good we can do."
The run-off election had a lower voter turnout than previous student body elections. While 3,801 students voted in Monday's primary, only 3,249 voted Thursday, amounting to a little more than 40 percent of the student body.
Norton, whose parents were on hand for the announcement Thursday night, thanked all her supporters and said she looks forward to accomplishing all the Norton/Moscona platform goals.
"It was all the little things that made this happen," Norton said. "I want to thank all of those who did the work."
All News Stories for Friday, February 16, 2001
