After an arduous run-off campaign, third-year College student Micah Schwartz emerged victorious last night over rival third-year College student Steven Reinemund to capture the Student Council presidency.
"Obviously I am ecstatic about the results and look forward to getting started immediately," Schwartz said.
Schwartz received 1,595 votes in the run-off to Reinemund's 1,026 votes, with 15.12 percent of the entire student body voting. This percentage is up slightly from the Council president run-off held two years ago when 12 percent of students voted.
In last week's regular election, Schwartz received 2,039 votes and Reinemund received 1,860, but Council by-laws mandated a run-off because Schwartz did not win by at least five percent.
"In many ways, I am glad we had a run-off because it made both of us reevaluate why we were running," Schwartz said. "I am entering the presidency with a better idea of what students need."
Reinemund had nothing but praise for his opponent.
"Micah was a very worthy opponent and ran a terrific campaign," Reinemund said. "I plan to continue to work with Council in the future."
Current Council President Abby Fifer said she was equally pleased with the result.
"I am looking forward to great things from Micah and Student Council in the coming year," Fifer said. "He is a great leader and is tremendously capable of pushing through current initiatives and creating new ones."
Schwartz, a political and social thought major from Alexandria, Va., plans to take the next two months to learn the intricacies of the job from Fifer and to talk to administrators and students. He will spend the entire summer at the University laying the groundwork for the upcoming year.
"Academic issues will be my top priority over the next year," he said.
Schwartz also plans to talk to real estate agents, particularly over the summer, about incentives to push back lease signing dates. Furthermore, he said he will work to ensure the online course evaluation system becomes a reality as soon as possible. He also will explore new avenues of funding for late night parking validations for students studying at Clemons.
In the second most heated run-off of the night, first-year College student Nathaniel Smith defeated first-year College students Bryan Shin and Robin Short to win the position of second-year class president.
Smith was not originally on the run-off ballot because in the regular election both Short and Shin had received 348 votes and Smith had received 342. However, Smith appealed the initial decision to the Council Elections Committee and subsequently was placed on the ballot.
Smith "had appealed to the elections committee and we allowed him to run considering the six vote margin," Elections Committee Chairman Adam Trusner said.
In the run-off election, Smith received 373 votes as compared to Short's 242 and Shin's 218.
Two other run-off elections also were decided last night.
In the race for Nursing Council Treasurer, Keith Fawcett defeated Melissa Rock 35 votes to 13.
With 18 votes, Lela Graham defeated Jane Walker who received nine votes in the race to represent the School of Continuing and Professional Studies on Student Council.
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