Leora Jackson was named Queen’s 31st rector late Tuesday night with 37.7 per cent–936 votes–in the sixth round of preferential ballotting.
Quynh Huynh placed second with 33.3 per cent of the sixth-round vote.
Voter turnout was in the unusual rector-only election was 16.4 per cent of 16,054 eligible graduate and undergraduate students.
At 2 a.m. last night AMS chief returning officer Joanna Adams called candidates in the order in which they were eliminated.
After eliminating Huynh, the team went to Jackson’s house, where she and her friends had just recovered from a false alarm 20 minutes before.
“One of my housemates came home … first the door opened and I was, like, ‘How did they get keys?’” she said.
The first thing Jackson did upon finding out she won was call her parents.
She was shaking and, after a short conversation with them, she greeted the 15 or so scrutineers and volunteers who had walked to her house to congratulate her.
Outgoing rector Johsa Manzanilla gave Jackson the rector’s robe and a puma statuette that has been passed down from several previous rectors.
Jackson said the first thing she will do is talk to Manzanilla about transitioning into her role.
“I have a lot of learning to do,” she said.
Ariella Gross-Grand, Jackson’s supporter and ArtSci ’09, said they spent most of the night reassuring her that even if she lost they were still proud of her.
“We’re just so proud now,” Gross-Grand said. “I feel like I’m her mother.”
Manzanilla said she’s happy with the way the election was run.
“The students have spoken and they picked the right one.”
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