After four days of Student Council elections and a high voter turnout, third-year College students Brendan Dignan and Joe Bilby will compete in a run-off election for the Council presidency.
Bilby was the leading candidate and received 1,054 votes while Dignan received 953. Because less than 5 percent of the vote separated the two candidates, Council bylaws mandate a run-off election, which will be held next week.
"I hope that students realize this is an important decision and return to the polls to vote in the run-off election," Dignan said.
He also said he was "not surprised about the run-off because there are two very viable candidates."
Bilby said he was impressed by the voter turnout and believed the race was fair.
"It was a hard-fought race, and I'm cautiously optimistic for the run-off election," he said.
The four other members of next year's Council executive board also were elected last night.
Third-year College students Matt Madden and Steve Wright won uncontested races for executive vice president and vice president for administration, respectively.
Second-year College student Kelly Harris was elected vice president for organizations, receiving 1,468 votes. She defeated second-year College student Brian Maxted, who received 1,134 votes, and second-year College student Nick Jabbour, who received 1,084 votes.
Madden said he is excited about reaching out to students during his term.
"I look forward to continuing efforts to involve the students in their Student Council," he said. "We will reach out to students on the Web, in the Pav, during orientation and everywhere else we find them. I look forward to targeting some important issues and channeling the energies of newly elected representatives."
Fifteen new representatives also were elected to Council.
Drew Davis was elected fourth-year class president.
The graduate schools and the Architecture school will hold their representative elections later this spring.
The referendum concerning rush dates and student self-governance also was included on the ballot.
The referendum passed with about 50 percent of the vote. Two thousand, four hundred and fifty-three students voted in favor of the referendum. One thousand, four hundred forty-two students voted against the referendum, a total of about 30 percent of the student body. About 20 percent of voters abstained from voting on the question.
IFC President Justin Saunders said he applauded Council for getting the rush issue on the ballot.
"The referendum shows tremendous leadership on the part of Student Council and on the part of the students who supported it because this is an issue that effects not only the Greek system but all University students," Saunders said.
IFC Rush Chairman Wes Bieligk said he believes the referendum reflects student opinion.
The election had a high voter turnout, with about 28 percent of the student body voting.
The Engineering school had the highest voter participation with about 45 percent of students voting. The Commerce school and the College followed the Engineering school in voter turnout, each with about 40 percent voter participation.
Last year's spring elections saw a total voter participation of 3,656 students. This year, that total increased to 4,841.
Graduate students had the lowest turnout with only 4 percent voting in the election.
Elections Committee Co-Chairwoman Nancy Peterson said she was pleased with graduate voter turnout, considering graduate students will hold their own elections later in the spring.
Peterson said the Committee contacted every graduate student to educate them about the election.
Committee Co-Chairman Jonathan Bertsch said he felt the elections went well.
"We had strong candidates, and I was pleased with the voter turnout," Bertsch said.
Current Council President Taz Turner said he was pleased with the high turnout and quality of the new officers.
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