Students endorse USG presidential candidates

Several student groups, ranging from the football team to USC Red Cross, have endorsed candidates running for Undergraduate Student Government president and vice president.

The ticket of Mikey Geragos and Vinnie Prasad received endorsements from the USC football team, Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, Sigma Chi fraternity and Trojan Knights.

“It highlights the balance between Greek and non-Greek [on our ticket],” Prasad said. “It also shows one of the strengths of our ticket in terms of improving athletics for all students.”

Presidential candidate Jared Ginsburg and his running mate Sam Coxe were endorsed by Global Business Brigades, Marshall Business Student Government, the Singapore Students Association, USC Chabad and USC College Republicans.

“It reflects that there is a very broad student base,” Ginsburg said. “The types of organizations that have endorsed us are very different from one another. I think it shows Sam and I are reaching out to a wide variety of students at USC and that was really the primary goal of the campaign.”

The ticket of Theo Offei and Julia Riley garnered official backing from the Black Business Student Association, Sigma Lamda Gamma sorority and USC Red Cross.

“They reflect excitement and, most importantly, they reflect diversity,” Offei said.

Student groups and organizations have until polls close Thursday night to endorse a ticket. Campus groups can endorse a candidate by filling out and submitting an endorsement form, which can be accessed on the USG website. The endorsement is then processed by USG and posted on its website.

Voting for USG elections began today and will last until Thursday. The preliminary results will be announced at a USG senate meeting Feb. 21 and the final tallies will be released the following week.

Follow USG beat writer Daniel Rothberg on Twitter. | For more coverage on the 2012 USG elections, click here.