Tyagi, Lachman named winners of USG election

Monish Tyagi and Logan Lachman were declared the winners of the Undergraduate Student Government presidential election Tuesday, according to preliminary results.

Celebration · President-elect Monish Tyagi (right) and Vice President-elect Logan Lachman celebrate their victory Tuesday night at the Conference Room in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center. They received 38.84 percent of the USC student vote. - Ted Gerike | Daily Trojan

Tyagi, USG director of campus affairs, and Lachman, a greek senator, won with 2,230 votes. Eric Burse, president of the Black Student Assembly, and Andy Greos, Program Board production director, came in second with 1,707 votes, followed by Alex Fadil and Rohan Mehra with 1,646 votes.

“It’s incredible. It’s such an honor to have that many students come out and vote and say that they support us,” Tyagi said. “This is, by far, the greatest honor I’ve ever received from my peers, and I can’t convey enough how excited I am.”

Tyagi said they plan to focus on “tangible changes that students want to see” during the next school year.

“I’m looking forward to sitting down with Chris and getting to work,” Tyagi said. “The amount of respect between the candidates was unparalleled, and we really ran a great race.”

Tyagi attributed his win to his ticket having the most USG experience, adding that he and Lachman are excited to begin the transition process.

President Chris Cheng said he thinks the winners’ experience in USG will help them next year. Tyagi has worked in several committees he will now oversee, and Lachman will run the Senate meetings she currently attends.

“[Vice President] Nehi [Ogbevoen] and I couldn’t be more excited to help work with them, to help mentor them,” Cheng said. “There’s a lot of hard work ahead of them, and if they show the dedication this upcoming year that they showed in the past, they’ll be more than prepared to meet out those demands.”

The other candidates congratulated Tyagi and Lachman, shaking their hands after the announcement.

“We were all out there every single day doing the best job that we could,” Burse said. “We all are excellent leaders, and I am confident that Monish and Logan will do a great job next year.”

Renee Cohn | Daily Trojan

The total number of votes this year increased by 23 percent from last year. Students cast 5,741 ballots, which represents more than one-third of the undergraduate student population, nearly reaching USG’s goal of 6,000 votes.

“It’s hard to pinpoint the number one reason,” said Barb Solish, Elections and Recruitment co-chair. “But, the USG communications team worked very hard to publicize the affair. I also think having the food trucks definitely, absolutely made a difference.”

Polls provided food at peak hours and enticed students to vote.

Voting numbers might also have increased because more total candidates (28) ran this year than in any of  the last four years.

“We had such a high number within the senators and different groups reaching out to their constituents that we really saw students reaching out to different groups on campus,“ Solish said.

The official results will be announced next Tuesday once those elected are determined to be in good standing by the Office of Academic Affairs.

For more coverage on the 2011 USG elections, click here.