Larry Seivert was elected Student Association president early Friday morning in what election officials called the highest voter turnout in SA’s 53-year history. Alec Sim, chair of the board of elections and membership, said 3,302 students voted – 23.6 percent of Syracuse University and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry full-time undergraduates. Seivert, the only declared presidential candidate, received 89 percent of the 2,855 votes cast for president. The rest of the votes went to write-in candidates, Sim said.

Seivert named Erik Bortz, a freshman political science major, as his vice president, pending approval from SA’s Assembly. ‘I recognize that he’s a freshman, but I really appreciate that he has fresh eyes,’ Seivert said. ‘He’s got an insane passion for this university.’ Bortz said he isn’t intimidated by the appointment.

‘The first thing I think we should do is to understand what is bordering the university,’ he said. ‘We should reach into the surrounding community. This university should implement policies that include them.’

Seivert lost as a write-in candidate in last year’s election by 183 votes to current SA President Marlene Goldenberg. But after his victory this year, the junior business major said he has no regrets about not declaring his previous candidacy. Voting for this year’s election began Monday and ended Thursday at 11:59 p.m. By the end of the first voting day, SA had already surpassed the required percentage of votes to validate an election. SA’s constitution demands that for a proper election, at least 10 percent of SU and ESF students must vote.

‘Wow,’ Seivert said, answering a 12:28 a.m. phone call from Sim. ‘We got 23.6 percent of the campus. Everybody’s going to be so happy. Especially for my race, to not have any competition. That’s pretty cool.’

Sim confirmed that the results constitute a legitimate election, and that there were no campaign violations – a relatively calm election compared to last year’s calculation error. When the votes were tallied for last year’s election, the number of votes for comptroller exceeded the number of total votes by 301.

Lily Mei was elected the 2009 comptroller, putting her at the helm of the Finance Board. The sophomore management major won 54 percent of the 2,743 votes cast for comptroller.

Na’Tasha Webb-Prather, a sophomore African-American studies major, received 40 percent of the vote.

Voters also approved two referendums. The first integrates into SA the Class Alliance – a programming organization for students in each year. Class Alliance will still remain an autonomous organization. A second referendum allows students to get back $3 of their student fee from the New York Public Interest Research Group. Seivert will be sworn in as president at SA’s first meeting of 2009, set for Jan. 12.

Goldenberg, the current president, will give her farewell speech at SA’s Dec. 1 meeting. Goldenberg said she was pleased with the high voter turnout for this year’s election, but also said it serves as a reminder that her term is ending.

‘Tonight, I was sitting at the table with the same people who were with me when I got the phone call last year,’ she said. ‘It’s kind of weird to think about.’

And for Seivert, he said last year doesn’t feel too far away. After a campaign of 6,000 post cards, 200 posters and daily e-mail blasts, Seivert said the easy part is over. For his one-year term, Seivert said he plans to hold town hall meetings to bring more of the student body to SA, improve off-campus transportation to make the surrounding communities more accessible, and make SA’s budget process more efficient for student organizations.

‘I’m really looking forward to the future,’ he said. ‘We’ve got a lot of work to do, and it’s not even just begun.’

shmelike@syr.edu

Published on November 13, 2008 at 12:00 pm