#UCC Votes Results (So far)
A majority of the UCC Students' Union Executive have today (or yesterday, by the time you're reading this) been elected; all of the College Reps and Non-Sabbatical officers have been elected, as well as a majority of Sabbats. The race to be UCCSU's next President, however, will go into a second day of counts, as the vote is reportedly too close to say after three counts.The first result announced was the result of the referendum on Irish Unity.
Total Votes: 3949Total Valid Poll: 3883Yes/Tá: 2450 (63%)No/Níl: 1433 (37%)
A lot of people who had been supporting a 'No' vote questioned what "campaigning for Irish Unity" actually means, as in what action will be taken, and we will likely know more within the next few weeks.Next we went to the Equality Officer election, as current UCCSU LGBTQ Rights Officer Niamh O'Reilly was unopposed.
Total Votes: 3989Total Valid Poll: 3739O'Reilly, Niamh: 3517 (94%)RON: 222 (6%)Niamh O'Reilly was deemed elected on the first count.
Following on from that, we went back to the other referendum, which asked students if they would agree with capitation being raised by €50. This money, along with the €40 of capitation that currently goes towards the facilities in the Mardyke Arena, would go towards developing sports & outdoor facilities. The UCC Clubs Executive were in favour of the referendum, as were a majority of individual clubs.
Total Votes: 3948Total Valid Poll: 3890Yes/Tá: 1781 (46%)No/Níl: 2109 (54%)The referendum failed.
Next up were the Oifigeach Gaeilge (Irish Officer) results. Sole candidate Faye Murphy, who is currently away on Erasmus, was no-doubt following the results closely on social media, but in the end she had no cause for concern, as she easily defeated the mighty RON (Re-Open Nominations).
Total Votes: 3989Total Valid Poll: 3737Murphy, Faye: 3540 (95%)RON: 197 (5%)Faye Murphy was deemed elected on the first count.
Understandably, those counting the ballots clearly started with the unopposed candidates, as the next announced result was the Medicine & Health rep, which initially had two candidates, but was reduced to one following the disqualification of a candidate (due to a digital copy of the manifesto being sent in past the deadline).
Total Votes unknown at time of writingTotal Valid Poll: 593Mitchell, Laura: 537 (91%)RON: 56 (9%)Laura Mitchell was deemed elected on the first count.
The election for College Representative for Business & Law was up next, and current B&L Rep Kayleigh O'Sullivan was the only candidate (besides RON).
Total Votes: 1030Total Valid Poll: 994O'Sullivan, Kayleigh: 785 (79%)RON: 209 (21%)Kayleigh O'Sullivan was deemed elected on the first count.
Next up was the College Rep for the College of Science, Engineering & Food Science (SEFS).
Total Votes: 1008Total Valid Poll: 976Carey, Ronan: 874 (90%)RON: 97 (10%)Ronan Carey was deemed elected on the first count.
The first (potentially) paid position of the night announced was Entertainments Officer.
Total Votes: 3989Total Valid Poll: 3797Dunlea, Ben: 3570 (94%)RON: 227 (6%)Ben Dunlea was deemed elected on the first count.
After Ents we went straight into our first Sabbatical position, as there were three candidates for CACSSS Rep. While Barry O'Shea was unopposed for the position, there were doubts amongst some, as a concerted, public RON campaign was ran against him. However, the results proved that he had ultimately nothing to fear.
Total Votes: 4062Total Valid Poll: 3801O'Shea, Barry: 3349 (88%)RON: 452 (12%)Barry O'Shea was deemed elected on the first count.
We then dipped back into the part-time SU positions, and finally returned to see who would be the next Arts/CACSSS Rep. While three candidates went for the role, it should be noted that one of the candidates was left stranded in Scotland for the entirety of Monday's campaigning due to a strike among French air-traffic control staff (seriously), which likely put a dampener on their campaign.
Total Votes unknown at time of writingTotal Valid Poll: 1079Kelleher, Elle: 276 (26%)Kenneally, Shane: 325 (30%)Poland, Amy: 435 (40%)RON: 43 (4%)Amy Poland was deemed elected on the third count, following transfers from previously eliminated candidates (RON, Elle Kelleher)
The hotly-contested Welfare election was up next. Candidate Mike O'Keeffe was to be unopposed, initially, until nominations were re-opened as he had, reportedly, failed to hand in a digital copy of his manifesto on time. Regardless of the specific reasons, the Returning Officer deemed that the rules had been violated (as was the case for Equality Officer candidate Niamh O'Reilly, as well as Medicine & Health candidate Niamh Hogan) and as such the candidate would be disqualified. As RON was the only candidate left, nominations were re-opened for about two days, during which two other candidates successfully collected the requisite 500 signatures (as did Mr.O'Keeffe, for the second time in the space of a week) and handed in the necessary documents to be put on the ballot: Kelly Coyle and John McCarthy.
Total Votes unknown at time of writingTotal Valid Poll: 3791Coyle, Kelly: 1573 (41%)McCarthy, John: 1016 (27%)O'Keeffe, Michael: 1080 (29%)RON: 122 (3%)RON was eliminated on the first count, and its votes were distributed. John McCarthy was next to be eliminated, and his votes were distributed amongst the remaining candidates. On the third count, Kelly Coyle was deemed elected, without reaching the quota.
The next election up was for the Education Officer position, which was announced shortly after last call in the New Bar.
Total Votes unknown at time of writingTotal Valid Poll: 3809Casey, Tadhg: 2844 (75%)McCahill, Chris: 817 (21%)RON: 148 (4%)Tadhg Casey was deemed elected on the first count, having reached quota.
The last election result that was to be announced on the night was the result for Deputy President & Campaigns Officer. Three candidates were fighting it out to succeed Kate Moriarty in the role.
Total Votes unknown at time of writingTotal Valid Poll: 3853Galvin, Mervyn: 436 (11%)O'Herlihy, Daire: 1417 (37%)Ó Riabhaigh, Seán: 1912 (50%)RON: 88 (2%)Following the distribution of votes from RON (1st count) and Mervyn Galvin (2nd count), it wasn't mathematically possible for Daire O'Herlihy to overtake Ó Riabhaigh, so Seán 'Poodles' Ó Riabhaigh was deemed elected on the third count.
At this point, a result in the final election was expected within twenty minutes. As time slipped away, and bodies became weary, it became clear that something had happened. At different times over the hour or so between the election of 'Poodles' as Deputy and the eventual announcement on the Presidential count various candidates and their teams, having presumably somehow gotten word from the count, that a result was imminent, at different times celebrated and commiserated amongst themselves. Eventually, people filtered out of Devere Hall, until being told to leave entirely at around 2am. The race for the Presidency has, apparently, been very close indeed, with rumours of a single-digit difference after the first recount (i.e. the second overall count, different from 'the second count'). Whatever the actual situation, it wont be solved until tomorrow (or as you read this, today) at 12pm, according to a post on the UCC Students' Union Facebook page. Until then we wont know whether Art Kelleher, Katie O'Neill or Martin Scally will be your next Students' Union President - of course, there's always the perennial 'dark horse' candidate in RON...This is undoubtedly the closest election since the 2013/14 elections, when Barry Nevin was elected Comms Officer by a margin of only 40 votes. The Returning Officer is undoubtedly in an unenviable position, as many will dispute a result with a margin of only 7 or 8 votes. In the unlikely event of a tie between two candidates (or possibly three) it is unknown what will happen, as there are no provisions for such an event in either the SU Constitution (at least the copy we have access to) or the election regulations. One would presume that, in the event of a tie, we will have to return to the polls sometime in the near future to decide who the President will be, but there is (in recent memory) no precedent for this in UCC Students' Union. All eyes turn to the Returning Officer for the elections, and current Students' Union President Eolann Sheehan, as to what will happen in this dangerously close Presidential campaign.Your Students' Union Executive for 2017/18 will be:(President, result TBA), Seán 'Poodles' Ó Riabhaigh (Deputy), Barry O'Shea (Comms), Tadhg Casey (Education), Kelly Coyle (Welfare), Ben Dunlea (Ents), Faye Murphy (Gaeilge), Niamh O'Reilly (Equality), Amy Poland (CACSSS Rep), Ronan Carey (SEFS Rep), Laura Mitchell (Med & Health Rep) and Kayleigh O'Sullivan (B&L Rep). These people will be joined by representatives from the Clubs and Societies Executives, as well as the Student Council Chair, who will be elected at the last Student Council of the year. In addition to these positions, the Equality Working Group elections will take place sometime between now and September, those these Officers do not sit on SU Exec.We would like to note that we haven't approached the Students' Union for comment, as it's 3am at the time of writing, and we thought we'd allow them the opportunity to get a good night's sleep. For up-to-date news from the Students' Union point of view, check out their social media accounts, @UCCSU.