At 8:05 pm, the winner in the race for Editor of the University Times was announced at the Grand Social. Current Deputy Editor Harper Alderson won the race on the first count with 3591 votes, making up 91.8 per cent of the total votes. Re-Open Nominations (RON) received 320 votes, making up 8 per cent of the total valid votes cast. Alderson had run uncontested.
The results are in line with the University Times’ election poll, which had predicted she would win with 88.3 per cent of the votes.
Accepting her win, Alderson said that she “did not expect it to be that high”. She then thanked her campaign manager Ella O’Neill, who is also the current Social Media Manager for the University Times. Alderson stated that O’Neill was “the best campaign manager in the entire world”. Addressing the audience, Alderson also said that “if there is anything to take away from my campaign, it is that the University Times is for you”.
Further, Alderson added, “I’m there for you and I want to have you and I want to hear your voice”.
Alderson’s main goals as UT Editor are to increase the frequency of broadsheets and to reimplement a weekly email newsletter.
“The University Times is the best newspaper in the entire world”, said Alderson, in a statement to UT, “People put in so much work, this paper is so much more than the who the Editor is”.
“And if you voted for reopen nominations, please write for the University Times, because if you felt strongly enough about something to do that, you have strong opinions and we would love to hear from you.”
Additional reporting by Manasvini Naren, Weronika Brzechffa, and John Crofton
