Spring Buford and Emilee McFadden won the election to be BYUSA’s next president and executive vice president. Buford won the presidential election by three votes, making her the first female STEM major to be president. She is the fifth STEM student in BYUSA presidential history. McFadden received more votes than any other candidate. The pair will be the fourth all-female presidency.
Buford recognized the close margin she won by. “A margin of three means that every minute that people helped campaigned mattered,” she said. She expressed particular thanks for her husband. “I relied on my husband for support.”
She wants to put her platform to work right away. “I’m really excited just to start, hit the ground running with lobby hours, going out doing weekly excursions on campus,” she said. “I’m really excited to serve as president. I’m excited to engage campus and just meet as many students as I can and show them some love.”
McFadden admitted she felt like an underdog in the beginning of her campaign. Out of all the candidates, she had the least amount of experience within BYUSA. She said her friends outside of BYUSA helped her clinch as many votes as she did. “I had friends from all different groups I’ve been a part of see me and tell me that they were voting because I had made a connection one to three years ago, some even five years ago. I had a lot of help.” She said her friends have expressed interest in getting more involved in BYUSA since the election ended.
Buford also appreciated the work of the BYUSA elections committee. “I thought that Vanessa (Loveless), Anthony (Bates) and Angela (Blomquist) worked to make it a safe and fair process,” she said.
As executive vice president, McFadden is confident she will work well with Buford. “I love Spring,” she said. “I’m so excited to serve with her. I think that she and I complement each other really well.”
Altogether, this year’s election had a little over 5,000 students participate, according to Executive Vice President Mimi Ross. The year Ross campaigned, there were over 6,000 students who voted.
