GreekChat.com Forums - Ohio University Student wins city office in election...

I found this interesting. A friend of mine won a city office in Athens just after graduation. I wonder how may other "college towns" have students serving in elective offices.

I have edited out comments by some unsuccessful candidates for the sake of brevity. The article is from the Post, the student newspaper at Ohio University.

"Student wins city office

by Erica Bush
City Senior Writer
erica.bush@ohiou.edu

The Democratic Party made a clean sweep in the Athens city elections last night, securing all City Council seats, including the three at-large spots.

Democrats Dale Tampke and Jim Sands were re-elected to their at-large seats, while the self-proclaimed "shock of the night" was the election of 20-year-old Ohio University junior Sarah Sexton.

Sexton said she was surprised at both the number of students and residents who turned out to vote and the election results.

"I thought I would be a close fourth," Sexton said.

But Sexton, who is the third student to be elected for a city council position, took the third highest number of votes for the at-large race, with 1,828 votes. Provisional and absentee votes are not counted in these results.

Sands, who was elected to his fourth term on council and received 1,829 votes, said Sexton has proven herself, and he is sure she will be effective.

"I've always felt that a student voice should be heard on council," he said.

Tampke, who also was elected to his fourth term on council and received 1,975 votes, said he was pleased with the outcome of the election, and is excited about working with Sexton, who is energetic and will bring a different perspective to council.

But all three Democratic winners attribute their success and the party's success in the election to their teamwork.

"Working as a team we helped each other, and (the Republicans) did not," Sands said.

But Baum said both the Democrats and Republicans ran a good race, and his campaign did not result in his failure to get re-elected.

Republican candidate Michael Bir received 1,058 votes. He said he knew the campaign was going to be an uphill battle, but he worked hard to get his message across and is not ashamed of the results.

"I'm a student and Republican in a democratic city," he said.

From the beginning, Sands said he worked with Sexton and Tampke to bring three different outlooks to council.

According to Tampke, the Democratic candidates pulled their resources together to run a campaign based on platforms. The three went door-to-door campaigning together.

"This is how we work on council," he said."

— Casey Clapper and Elizabeth Goussetis contributed to this story