Jay Paterno was elected to the Board of Trustees after all.
And while we're on the subject of numbers,
let's take a look at the official results from psu.edu.
There were 5 candidates for 3 alumni-elected positions in the latest State Board of Trustees election. 1 candidate dropped out before the election - leaving 4 finalists. Of
643,782 eligible voters,
21,333 (3.3%) ballots were cast (voters could select up to 3 candidates, or a total of
63,999 possible votes). A total of 54,835 votes were actually cast, so some did not vote for 3 candidates.
Jay received
16,322 (29.8%). Mind you, that's out of a potential total of 1,946,346 votes among all eligible voters. The other two winners, Alice Pope and Robert Jubelirer received 14,744 (26.9%) and 13,173 (24.0%). Dr. Pope is a tenured associate professor of child clinical psychology, and Jubelirer served in the Pennsylvania Senate from 1975 to 2006, was president pro tempore of the PA State Senate for 21 years, and served as PA lieutenant governor. The lowest vote getter was Robert Bowsher, a writer and accountant from California, who received 8,868 votes (16.2%). There were 1,728 write-in votes (3.2%)
I wouldn't read too much into that election result as indicative of some broad support among the larger alumni base. Jay will be one voice in 10 elected by alumni, and 1 of 34 total on the BoT.