Noah Marchuck ‘24C has been elected to serve as the 56th Student Government Association (SGA) president, following a scandal-plagued election. Marchuck, originally elected to serve as Vice President of SGA ascended to the presidency last Wednesday following his running mate, Alyssa Stegall’s ‘23C loss to ‘No confidence,’ the first time in school history.

The unprecedented victory of ‘No Confidence’ is also a victory for Elisabet Ortiz ‘25C and her supporters. Ortiz, who was originally running for SGA President, was disqualified on March 16th by the elections board.

The board made the decision to disqualify Ortiz based on language in the SGA Code of Elections, which states that all candidates “must be enrolled full-time at Emory University.” Ortiz is currently taking an involuntary gap year as she seeks legal emancipation from her family. In an Instagram post, Ortiz’s campaign called the policy discriminatory and argued that the Elections Code did not account for students like herself.

Ortiz also said that she would appeal the Election Board’s decision to the Constitutional Council, the most powerful (and only) court in student government. At the same time, Ortiz and her supporters called on Emory Students to vote ‘No Confidence.’

Several days later on March 21st, Ortiz dropped her bid for presidency, but continued to encourage her supporters to vote ‘No Confidence.’ Ortiz argued in an Instagram Post that a strong showing for ‘No Confidence’ “means forcing the SGA to make change today.”

On March 22nd, right before polls opened, Ortiz’s opponents, Alyssa Stegall ‘21Ox 23C and Eleanor Liu ‘21Ox 23B, issued a joint editorial in The Emory Wheel, asking students not to vote ‘No Confidence.’

Following three full days, the elections board published the results, which revealed that ‘No Confidence’ had won a plurality with 46.69% of the vote. However, because ‘No Confidence’ was unable to win an outright majority, an automatic runoff was triggered.

Stegall, who finished second to ‘No Confidence’ with 32.77% of the vote entered the runoff against ‘No Confidence.’ Her running mate, Noah Marchuck, defeated ‘No Confidence’ with 53.89% of the vote.

Despite the scandal and heightened focus on the elections, voter turnout decreased from last year’s record high of 29.8%.

A total of 1681 students voted in the SGA elections, a turnout of 21.8%, down 8% from last year.

Several days later, ‘No Confidence’ triumphed in a direct runoff with Stegall, winning with 51.37% of the vote. The margin of victory for ‘No Confidence’ was only 35 votes.

In a University-wide email, the election board declared that the constitution therefore made Marchuck the SGA President and that he would be responsible for appointing his Vice President.

Marchuck enters office facing several important and pressing challenges, from appointing a Vice President to addressing rapidly rising tuition to tackling a severe and worsening mental health crisis. Marchuck’s win has also largely been overshadowed by the victory of ‘No Confidence.’

Marchuck will have to contend with demands to drastically alter the Code of Elections and the SGA constitution. And if he chooses to seek reelection next year, he is also likely to face a challenge from Elisabet Ortiz, who will return as a full-time student this fall.

Ortiz, who has gained widespread name recognition, and who’s victory denied her political rivals victory, is likely to be a formidable challenger.

The Digest will work to keep Emory’s student body informed and to hold SGA accountable over the next year. Next Spring, the student body will get its chance to determine if it made the right choice in electing Marchuck.