The position will now be open to new candidates after election saw no winner

A revote for the position of Student Association vice president for multicultural affairs (SA VPMA) resulted in no candidate receiving the minimum 40 percent of votes required to win.

The election — which had two choices: Epiphany Munoz and a write-in option — was held Tuesday, March 31. Students voted through a survey link sent to their Binghamton University email addresses, and the ballot was open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Munoz, a sophomore double-majoring in sociology and Africana studies, received 23.94 percent of the votes, and 76.06 percent were cast for the write-in option. Ruslan Klafehn, a freshman majoring in political science, launched his own unofficial campaign and encouraged students to write in his name on the ballot. Of the 2,005 votes cast, 759 listed his name, earning Klafehn 37.9 percent.

A number of ballots were cast for Klafehn, but with misspelled versions of his name, and could not be counted.

As a result, the SA will hold another election for VPMA. Munoz will still be a candidate in the next election, but other members of the student body are now welcome to submit letters of intent for the position.

In the original election, which was held on March 6 and in which Munoz was running unopposed, she received 74.42 percent of the vote. However, due to an infraction in which she sent an email to a listserv that she was not authorized to use, the results were voided.

The SA Elections Committee will begin accepting letters Thursday, April 2, and continue accepting them until Thursday, April 16. The re-election will be held Friday, May 1. If the election results in another run-off, and no candidate receives 40 percent of the votes, the re-election will be pushed to the fall 2015 semester. According to the SA constitution, elections cannot be held in the final two weeks of a semester.

“This would be an inconvenience for the upcoming E-Board,” said Julie Kline, chair of the Planning, Research and Elections Committee and a sophomore double-majoring in human development and English. “They won’t have a full E-Board to train with, and the members won’t be able to all work together until the fall.”

On the same survey, students also voted on constitutional referendums to increase the student activity fee by $3.50, and to redirect an additional $3.00 from housing community funding to the SA. Both passed, with the first change receiving 71.01 percent of the votes and the second earning 76.08 percent of the votes. To pass, each needed two-thirds of votes cast.

All outcomes from Tuesday’s election are unofficial until they are approved by the SA Congress, which will meet within the next two days to finalize the results.