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Number of votes President Zachery Scott 1,611 Justin Williams 844 Adam Schaffer 353 Vice President Yvonne Miller 1,237 Mark McLawhorn 843 Brian Wayne 603 Treasurer Cameron Burnette 1,343 Kenyatta Frazier 1,220 , GRAPHIC BY STACI JORDAN/THE GAMECOCK r Voter turnout increases from 2003 SG election BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA TIIKOAMKCOCK A more laid-back approach to promoting Student Government elections increased voter turnout in this year’s races, election com mission officials said. The total voter turnoht was 2,804 votes over a two-day period — 400 more votes than last year’s election, which included more ten sion between candidates, espe cially in the presidential race. Last year, presidential candidate Wes Donehue earned a violation be fore the elections began when he angrily accosted J.D. Shipman, also a presidential candidate, at a cam paign meeting. Both of those can didates dropped out of the race be fore elections began. This year’s election wasn’t so dramatic. According to SG Elections Commissioner Rachel Keisler, the candidates got along well with each other. There were only three minor violations this election. Minor violations include infrac tions like posting campaign flyers in prohibited spaces, while major violations are filed for campaign ing over university listservs and similar misconduct. “I think the election has run the smoothest since I was on the com mittee my freshman year," said Keisler, a fourth-year marketing student. “It was a low key elec tion." Keisler said that in past years the elections commission has over-promoted SG elections, re pelling potential voters with all the hype. “We went for a less-is-more strategy this year," she said. She said this year’s first-year class seems more interested in getting involved with SG than past class es. For her part, SG president Katie Dreiling said elections cov erage in The Gamecock encour aged greater voter turnout. She said initiatives like the readership program also helped. “Hopefully a lot of the projects we did got students more interest ed in Student Government," she said. According to Dreiling, some candidates’ formation of a politi cal party, the first in university history, made for a very different election last year. The Palmetto Party, organized by former Alpha Delta Pi President Leigh Ann Cubbage, ran on a two-part plat- ' form that included budget redis tribution and Student Senate re form. No members of the Palmetto Party were elected. President-elect Zachery Scott said the increased voter turnout was a sign of students’ approval of SG’s efforts this year. “I think we had a good year and I think students are responsive to that," Scott said. Dreiling also gave the candi dates credit for their campaign ef forts. “I think the candidates did a great job of getting out and talk ing to students," she said. Keisler said she started plan ning for this year’s elections last May, and she had her nine-mem ber commission selected by the first week of classes. The commis sion has been working to coordi nate the races since about the third week of classes. The theme of this year’s election was “Ride the wave of change," and the commission distributed leis and Frisbees to winning can didates when results were an nounced Tuesday evening on the third floor of the Russell House. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Election CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 message, and we were beat.” Williams hasn’t decided whether he’ll be running in an other SG election. Adam Schaffer, who ran as a “regular USC student,” was sup portive of Scott. “I’m very happy that we have a great leader as president. I hope that the school will just keep get ting better through the changes he makes,” he said. Burnette said he was happy with the results and that Frazier ran a “great race.” “We kept it clean,” he said. Frazier declined to comment. For Dreiling, the election results were bittersweet, as her term as SG president comes to an end March 17. She said the quality of the can didates was amazing and that each had something to add. “It’s not about improving your resume. It’s about the progress you make and the goals you reach,” she said. “Work with the administration; they’re striving for the same thing we are. The bet ter communication with the ad ministration, the more results we can achieve.” Dreiling said she gets almost 50 e-mails a day from students. Dreiling said her SG experience has been worth a lot to her, and she’ll be giving up a job she loves. She’ll continue to work with the presi dential affairs council and help with Scott’s transition to president. In elections where many stu dents don’t get involved, the in creased turn out was a big im provement. However, to reach stu dents like second-year mechani cal engineering student Ted Phillips, SG has a long way to go. “Elections? I didn’t even know we had those,” Phillips said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu #• Getting the word out PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK Ashley Glenn, a second-year electronic journalism student, hands out flyers to students as they pass by in-between classes on Monday In support of VP candidate Yvonne Miller. ; $100 cash 11 ] at Move-In! i I redeem coupon at time of lease I I Expires 3/25/04 i ■ not valid In conjunction with any other offer ■ n 779.3280 I I As an engineer in the U.S. Air Force, there’s no telling what you’ll work on. (Seriously, we can’t tell you.) i United States Air Force applied technology is years ahead of what you’ll touch in the private sector, and as a new engineer you’ll likely be involved at the ground level of new and sometimes classified developments. You’ll begin leading and managing within this highly respected group from day one. Find out what’s waiting behind the scenes for you in the Air Force today. 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