Students’ Association Senator Nicholas Grote will serve as the student body president for the 2023-2024 academic year at South Dakota State University after a general election victory last week. 

Grote, a business economics major and senator representing the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences ran with Trinity Peterson as his vice presidential pick. Peterson, a sophomore studying agriculture education and political science, serves as an SA senator for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. 

The final vote count was 1213 to 783. The opposition candidates for president and vice president were junior human biology major and SA Senator Hunter Eide and his running mate, ag business and business economics major Carter Howell. 

Peterson initially campaigned with Eide as his vice presidential pick. The pair withdrew from the running Feb. 8 and re-entered the race with new running mates. 

Grote and Peterson’s campaign focused heavily on Grote’s electric scooter initiative. Grote led the initiative with a proposal outlining how e-scooters will be used, possible concerns and operating costs. Now, Grote will work directly with university administration to make his e-Scooter project a reality. 

“Nick is 100% in whatever he decides to do, and I’ve already seen how much he cares about making a difference in students’ lives,” Peterson said. 

The campaign also focused on Peterson’s student scoreboard bill. In the Senate, Peterson initiated talks about ADA accessibility in the Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, where students must stand up and turn around to check the score during games. 

Grote and Peterson also credited their win to Jake Ayers from the BluePrint Design and Print Center. 

“Jake killed it!” Peterson said. “We gave him some ideas for posters and banners, and he took them and ran with them.”

Grote and Peterson will be sworn into their positions Monday, closing the chapter on a campaign season that wasn’t easy for the candidates.

“Running against a friend is never easy, and it was difficult to see people saying not-so-great things about Nick and Hunter alike,” Peterson said. “I think this experience helped us all to learn that our value is not always determined based on others’ opinions of us.” 

Grote’s reminder to students: “Every student is a member of the Students’ Association. If you want to see something done, use your voice.”

Here’s a breakdown of the election results:

ELECTION RESULTS

* – denotes winners 

Presidential race vote total:

*Grote/ Peterson                1213

Edie/ Howell                          783

Senate and presidential votes by college:

Arts, Humanities & SS 

*Grote/ Peterson                 330

Edie/ Howell                          107

*Michael Garaofalo            256

*Hannay Dayaget                239

*Madeline Brink                    233

*Katie Neuhaus                     212

Esther Ilunga                          162

Joseph Ulloa                            113

CAFES

Grote/ Peterson                  260

*Edie/ Howell                       280

 *Tyler Rasmussen               362

*Grace Peterson                   336

*Kate Lorang                          332

*Wesley Siira                         308

Engineering

*Grote/ Peterson                  142

Edie/ Howell                           110

*Grant Sternhagen             208

Natural Science 

*Grote/ Peterson                  124

Edie/ Howell                          104

*Mara Andersen                   154

*Victoria Vazques                 129

*Hayden Bentz                       121

Nursing

*Grote/ Peterson                  126

Edie/ Howell                            59

*Rylee Sabo                            147

*Ellie Ulvin                              129

*Lindsay Condon                  120

Pharmacy 

*Grote/ Peterson                    41

Edie/ Howell                            34

*Skylar Doss                             71

Ed. & Human Services

*Grote/ Peterson                 190

Edie/ Howell                            88

The Graduate School and EHS had no candidates for Senate running in their respective races. Eide/ Howell recieved one grad student vote.