Students have elected the Associated Student Government president and two new vice presidents, but ASG elections aren’t over yet.
In Tuesday’s general election, Karla Diaz received 83 votes more than Howie Buffett in the race for executive vice president, but Diaz did not receive the necessary 50 percent of votes to win.
Now the candidates find themselves back in the election ring for round two — today’s run-off election.
Buffett said he anticipated a run-off from the start of the election season and worked throughout his campaign under that assumption.
“I was expecting to be seven or eight (percentage) points under,” Buffett said. “I was only three. It’s all about expectations.”
Diaz said she was surprised by how many people weren’t aware of today’s run-off. She said she plans on encouraging people who didn’t vote in Tuesday’s elections to vote today.
“If anything, the second time around teaches you who didn’t vote,” Diaz said.
Today’s voting will be conducted the same way as the general election. From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., voters can log onto HereAndNow and type in their net IDs and passwords. But this time, voters will see options only for Buffett, Diaz and abstention.
Election Commissioner Adam Forsyth said the abstention option allows students to show they care about the race but don’t know which candidate to choose.
Kenneth Janda, political science professor emeritus, said when a winner is required to have 50 percent or more of the votes in a general election, the race often goes into a run-off. Since the same two balloted candidates — Buffett and Diaz — are competing again, Janda said he expects the same division of votes in the run-offs.
“If you only have two candidates and they failed (to win) because of write-ins and abstentions, you’re likely to get a carbon copy of the vote,” said Janda, whose research relates to the conduct of political campaigns and elections.
Janda said he expects voter turnout to decrease in this race because the other three races were resolved and voter mobilization for those candidates probably has vanished.
“I’m a little bit worried about voter turnout,” ASG’s Forsyth said. “I hope everybody votes again.”
One method to improve voter turnout comes from playing the run-off as “a cool event,” Janda said. He said the winner of the run-off also depends on the candidate who does the best last-minute campaigning to bring in voters.
Buffett said he would spend today passing out the extra 800 quarter-sheet flyers left over from his general election campaign in dining halls, Norris University Center and at The Arch.
Diaz said she plans to spend the day campaigning in dorms and dining halls, ending her night at Delta Delta Delta for a “massive phone-a-thon” to push for last-minute votes.
A run-off between the same two candidates that were in the general election highlights for some the reason why the write-in option should be dropped.
But Forsyth said write-ins create a tradition among students. Eliminated for the run-offs, write-ins were almost cut from the general election ballot last year. However, students’ desire for another option countered that possibility, Forsyth said.
“I think delaying an election for a week (due to write-ins) is not worth getting rid of something students see as important,” he said.
