By LAUREN COMSTOC
The votes have been counted and its time to welcome Kristian Watford and Peter Miller as BYUSA President and Vice President. Watford and Miller won this year’s elections by 209 votes over their opponents Jeremy Bahr and Rob Porter.
“This is probably the closest race we’ve had,” said Wesley McDougal, current BYUSA President.
Out of the 4,833 students that voted during the final election period, 2,571 voted for Watford and Miller. Bahr and Porter received 2,362 votes. Watford and Miller received 52.2 percent of the vote.
“I’m excited but humble,” Watford said after hearing the news. “It was a good race.”
Both Watford and Miller are grateful for the campaigns. “That was a great experience,” said Miller. “I’ve learned so much. I’m just excited to get to work.”
The winners were announced to the public in the step-down lounge of the Wilkinson Center Friday night.
“Both teams were extremely competitive. It was a good, clean campaign,” said McDougal. When McDougal announced Watford and Miller as the winners, Bahr stood and applauded.
“It was a great race,” Bahr said. “Excellent ideas were brought forth; excellent ideas can be implemented. In terms of standing up for principles and people, I have no regrets. I congratulate the student body on the choice that they have made.”
“We appreciate your friendship, we appreciate BYU. We know we have some good ideas. We can make a difference next year,” he said.
Supporters of Watford and Miller were pleased to hear the news.
“With the ideas booth, we figured that 27,000 students can come up with better ideas than ten students sitting in a little room and that was one of the things I think that caught on with the people,” Roberts said.
Only 17.6 percent of the student body voted in the finals. Watford and Miller said they want to increase the percentage of the student body that is interested in BYUSA.
Watford feels that their ideas booth will set a precedent for involving students in BYUSA. “People will say that this is more than a suggestion box, that my ideas count, that I count.
