Although a system for electronic voting wasn’t developed in time for this year’s Government of the Student Body elections, efforts by the candidates and the GSB Election Commission resulted in a voter turnout about twice that of last year.

More than 3,000, or about 12 percent of ISU students, cast their votes last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for GSB. In contrast, last year’s elections drew only 1,500 students to the polls.

“I think that’s a very good count,” GSB Election Commissioner Michel Pogge said to the crowd awaiting the results in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union Wednesday.

Ben Golding, senior in construction engineering, and Lisa Dlouhy, junior in genetics, were elected GSB president and vice president, respectively.

The GSB senate passed a bill in November to develop a system for electronic voting, but the system was not secure in time for this year’s elections.

GSB will continue to work with the ISU Computation Center to develop the system for future elections.

A nighttime polling station at Parks Library, increased advertising about the elections and nice weather may have contributed to the increased voter turnout. In addition, the senate and four executive slates focused much of their attention on reaching out to students and informing them about the voting process.

Current GSB President Matt Craft said he was pleased with the increased turnout, but he still wants more students to get involved in GSB.

“It was nice to see [voter turnout] doubled from last year,” he said. “I think that partly shows that GSB is doing some good things on campus.

“Ultimately, it’s better, but still not good,” he said.

Kathleen MacKay, dean of students, said ISU students have set a precedent for next year’s elections.

“I’m very excited about doubling the votes from last year,” she said. “My challenge to the students is that we double the number again next year.”

The winners also appreciated the increased voter turnout.

“To the students, thank you for coming out to vote,” Golding said, after finding out he will succeed Craft in the GSB presidency. “This is the highest turnout since I’ve been here.”

Dlouhy, who will replace Garrett Toay as vice president, agreed with her running mate.

“I’m so amazed,” she said. “The turnout was so awesome.”

A standout number from the election totals was the number of voters from the greek system. The Interfraternity and Panhellenic races each had two candidates, and almost 800 votes were cast between the two races.

“I’m really excited about the incredible greek turnout,” said Matt Ostanik, IFC senator. “I think the entire greek community should be incredibly proud of how strongly we shared our voice on campus.”

The candidates will take office later this spring at the GSB inauguration.