Miller, Grant win SGA top office

Students exhausted from the week of campaigning, chanting, and giveaways can breathe a sigh of relief, as several candidates were elected and run-off candidates for the 2004 student body elections were announced Tuesday night.

Virgil Miller, 22, a public health student from West Palm Beach and Keneshia Grant, 20, a political science student from Fort Lauderdale were elected as SGA president and vice president. Receiving 1600 more votes than their closest competitors, Kenneth Milstead and William Harris, Miller and Grant’s victory came as no surprise to most students.

“Honestly I don’t think a write-in has a chance,” said Zaakia Bailey, 18, a freshman business administration student from Lynchburg, Va.

Several students said the Miller-Grant ticket’s visibility helped to sway their decision.

“Miller-Grant will win because they were out there more. You barely saw [Milstead-Harris],” said Vontrese Powell, a freshman business student from Orlando shortly before the results were posted.

Without another SGA president ticket challenging Miller and Grant, many students focused their attention to the races for Mr. and Mrs. FAMU. Alicia Green and Brooke Smith will compete in a run-off election Thursday since neither candidate received 51 percent of the vote.

Green, a fourth year business administration student from Detroit received 1312 votes in Tuesday’s elections while Smith, a fourth year business administration student from Fort Lauderdale received 1202 votes. As the candidates began to separate themselves through the course of the week, student started to anticipate a close race between Green and Smith.

“I knew it was going to be close between Brooke and Alicia,” said “I knew it was going to be close between Brooke and Alicia,” said Rebecca Almore, a freshman pharmacy student from Fort Pierce.

Despite the close number of votes for Green and Smith, Green still remains optimistic and is stressing consistency for Thursday’s elections.

“It’s important that the candidates still in the running get out there and continue campaigning”, Green said.

For Mr. FAMU, the top three candidates were separated by 70 votes. In the end, Brandon Best, a graduate business administration student from Charlotte received the most votes in the general election with 862. Ryan Morand, a junior business administration student from Tampa received 828 votes. Best and Morand will also compete in the run-off elections. James Harris, a third year business administration student from Union City, Calif., who was considered by some to be a legitimate candidate for Mr. FAMU came in third with 795 votes.

Run-off elections for Mr. and Miss FAMU, Junior and Sophomore Attendants will take place Thursday.

contact steven jumper at jumpersoulrb@aol.com.