The Vanderbilt Student Government Election Commission announced on March 26 that juniors Soham Saraf and Teguono Okotete won the 2025 VSG presidential election with 59.19% of the vote. The Sevaan Prestipino and Ishan Mahajan ticket received 39.19% of the vote.
This announcement followed tensions between 2024 VSG president Hananeel Morinville, a senior, and Prestipino, a sophomore, regarding alleged unjust executive actions by Morinville. In the 2025 election cycle, Prestipino was temporarily suspended for alleged voter intimidation, and he submitted appeals to the VSG Judicial Court to have the decision overturned.
In a message to The Hustler, Saraf and Okotete expressed gratitude toward the student body for trusting them to serve as the new VSG president and vice president, respectively.
“[Okotete] and I love our school and our community, and [we] are incredibly excited and motivated to create lasting change,” Saraf said. “We’re excited to work with members of the student body and various student organizations to make our plans a reality.”
In a message to The Hustler, Prestipino congratulated Saraf and Okotete on their VSG win.
“Congratulations to [Saraf] and [Okotete], and looking forward to their goals being carried out,” Prestipino said.
Morinville and 2024 Vice President Ellie Kearns, also a senior, declined to comment.
Prestipino/Mahajan suspension
The Prestipino/Mahajan ticket was originally temporarily suspended on March 25 for alleged voter intimidation. In an email to The Hustler, VSG Election Commissioner Veronica Tadross, a senior, said the election commission received “many reports” from students who alleged that they had experienced voter intimidation by Prestipino and Mahajan.
“We took prompt action against these violations because we value students being able to vote in privacy without pressure,” Tadross said. “We also communicated with both campaigns to ensure fairness and prevent violations throughout the campaigning period.”
According to VSG Chief Justice Robert Lowther, also a senior, Prestipino appealed this decision to the VSG Judicial Court on March 25. Lowther explained that Prestipino and Mahajan were originally suspended until 12:30 p.m. CDT on March 26, a decision with which he said he agreed. The court voted to overturn the VSG Election Commission and allow Prestipino and Mahajan to continue their campaign.
The court published Legal Order 2025-002 on March 27, 2025 which described the court’s reasoning for upholding Prestipino’s appeal toward the allegations of voter intimidation.
“Without due process, the Elections Commission banned the Prestipino/Mahajan ticket from garnering votes for much of the active voting period. Little evidence was presented,” the court order reads. “After the court requested the release of the Election Commission’s justification, the evidence provided never showed that Prestipino, Mahajan or anyone affiliated with them ever remained campaigning to students after being asked to leave.”
Lowther explained that Prestipino and Mahajan asked the court to disqualify the Saraf and Okotete ticket because he felt the Elections Commission was unevenly punishing the campaigns.
“While we were still deliberating, the election ended, and the margin by which [Saraf and Okotete] won exceeded the maximum vote penalty that the court was willing to consider, so [Mahajan] withdrew the appeal,” Lowther said.
Prestipino claimed the allegations of voter intimidation were false.
“The Elections Commission banned [our ticket] from garnering votes for the majority of the campaign period over falsified harassment allegations,” Prestipino said. “While the higher court overturned their error, being suspended for most of the voting period significantly hurt us.”
Campaign process and the future of VSG elections
In reflecting upon the campaign process, Saraf and Okotete said they believe changes should be made to standardize the election process, as they faced challenges encouraging the student body to vote.
“It’s completely understandable why candidates over the past few election cycles have repeatedly been charged with ‘voter intimidation’ and other similar violations: it’s because it’s pretty much the only way to guarantee that students actually vote,” Saraf and Okotete said in a message to The Hustler.
Saraf and Okotete further explained how they believe a lack of communication and low voter turnout overall affected the general election cycle for students and candidates alike.
“The fact that only 1500 students participated in the election is not a reflection of the amount of work that each candidate group put into campaigning, but represents a lack of initiative by VSG. These elections are important, and they should not be taken lightly,” Saraf and Okotete said. “The majority of seniors we spoke to were under the impression that they weren’t eligible to vote because the form wasn’t working when they first opened it.”
Saraf and Okotete explained the obstacles they faced during this year’s election cycle and what they hope to see in the future.
“The initial petitioning period was tough, but we believe it to be a necessary part of the election process,” Saraf and Okotete said. “Ultimately, there must be some sort of barrier of entry to ensure that only candidates who are willing to put in the time and effort for these positions are considered. The actual election process is a different story.”
Lowther expressed his concern for future VSG elections and said the current lack of definitive punishments for campaign violations leaves a lot of discretion in the hands of the Election Commission.
“Having some more detailed guidelines would help everyone feel a bit more confident in the decision[s] made by the Elections Commission and by the Judicial Court,” Lowther said. “I think people need to understand that there is a difference between being upset with the ruling a body makes and that ruling being wrong or impermissible.”
