At 6 p.m. Wednesday, it was announced that Jansen Penny, chair of the Privilege Fee Committee and junior in industrial engineering, won the primary election for student body president.
“This small victory can either allow us to become complacent or ignite our drive to fulfilling our mission of Empowering You,” Penny said. “Ali Karamali and myself are choosing the latter.”
This is essentially the first round of votes to allow for write-ins, and the two will be up again for the general election in two weeks on Tuesday, Feb. 26.
The primary took place online over a 30-hour period from Tuesday at noon to Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Penny won with 1573 votes, or 54.37 percent, while his opposing candidate, Ryan Kelly, speaker of the student senate and junior in communication studies, netted 989 votes, or 34.19 percent.
“Anna [Spencer] and I are honored to have the opportunity to move on to the general election,” Kelly said. “We have worked hard up to this point advocating for the vision of students across K-State. We are thrilled to continue connecting with them and working with them over the next two weeks.”
Dozens of other candidates received the remaining 331 votes, but none received more than 3 percent of the overall total.
The general election to select the student body president, Student Governing Association senators and other officials takes place from Feb. 26 at noon to Feb. 27 at 6 p.m.
