And the winners are…

The Turk/Peterson slate will be the next GSB executives. A final 55.3 percent to 42.8 percent split fell in favor of GSB Speaker of the Senate Jonathan Turk, junior in political science, and Campustown Senator Chandra Peterson, junior in political science.

“I’m extremely pumped. I really want to work for students, and now I have a whole year to do that. I’m still nervous, but will do the best I can,” Peterson said.

Turk said he was relieved when the results were posted.

“I was pretty confident. I was [feeling] perfect since the polls closed on Tuesday, but for the last 15 minutes I’ve been having mini heart attacks,” he said. “There are so many things I can start doing.”

One of the first to congratulate Turk and Peterson was current GSB president Daniel Fischer, senior in agricultural business, who offered the first advice to the newly elected president.

“You know your way around GSB,” Fischer commented to Turk, who has previously served on all three branches of the student government.

Turk said he had plans to get a campuswide e-mail out to the students quickly.

“First thing, thank you for this honor,” Turk said directly to students. “Student government always meant a lot to me. We are reaching out to top leaders on campus for cabinet positions and have meet with a lot of organizations. There’s a lot in store.”

Making sure that student voices were heard through all levels of GSB was another goal Turk mentioned.

With 920 votes cast in their favor, the Boggess/Haskin campaign came short of a win.

“I thought it was good. A lot of senators who were elected will do a good job next year,” said Jason Boggess, senior in mechanical engineering. “I’m disappointed about not winning the election. I think Turk and Peterson will go a good job. They have the experience to get the job done and continue the ball rolling.”

The results of senate elections were also announced.

One particular election, for the senator of Agriculture and Life Sciences, had a clear winner of Nathan Dobbels, sophomore in agriculture and life sciences education, with 214 votes. The second seat available is currently in a tie and the winner to be determined between Sam Katzer, senior in agricultural studies, Christopher Bone, junior in agricultural systems technology, and Benjamin Varley, senior in animal science, each having received two votes.

Although eight senators are guaranteed a seat as off-campus senators, five nominees will have to wait until the off-campus constituency council approves their seats. The 20 Campustown senators who were nominated all tied with one point. They will be asked if they want to take the position, and the Campustown constituency council will decide who to seat.

The two referendums on the ballot were both passed. It is now written in the GSB bylaws that a two-thirds vote of the senators present can pass a bill, instead of two-thirds of all senators. The second referendum that passed stated that members of GSB have to hold a 2.0 grade point average to hold a seat in the senate.

This year, 2,345 total votes were cast, a decrease of 1,787 votes from 2008.