Ryan Britt ’22 was elected Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) chair of student affairs Friday night, beating River Fenton ’22 and Lucas Johnson ’22 in a special election governed by ranked-choice voting.

Only 373 students voted in the election, approximately one-fifth of the student body.

Britt received 164 first-choice votes, Fenton received 127 and Johnson received 82. Because no candidate received a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes, Johnson, was eliminated. Johnson’s second-choice votes were distributed to the remaining candidates, bringing Britt’s tally to 200, or 53 percent of the vote, enough to secure a victory.

Like those of the other candidates, Britt’s platform addressed mental health at Bowdoin, and Britt proposed installing kiosks offering free screenings in central locations on campus, in an effort to destigmatize mental illness. Drawing on his experience as a first-generation, low-income student, Britt also promised to create more programming for students from similar backgrounds.

After Chair of Student Affairs Anibal Husted ’22 resigned in May of this year, just four weeks after his election, the BSG Executive Committee announced in an email to the campus that a special election would be held in the fall. The result of the election would serve as a recommendation to BSG members on who to appoint to the position.

“We commit to appointing whoever the student body chooses,” read the email.

BSG assembly members will vote to confirm Britt at their next meeting on Wednesday, October 2.