Sophomore Neil DiBiase won yesterday's Tufts Community Union (TCU) presidential race with 60 percent of the vote.
Although the voter turnout was far lower than the 65 percent participation that sophomore and Elections Commission Chair Adam Weldai predicted heading into the election, the 45 percent participation matched the record for turnout that was set last year.
DiBiase said that up until the final results came out after midnight, he was unsure of whether he or his opponent, junior Amanda Richardson, would win.
"I had a great team around me; we worked hard," he said. "Amanda had a great team and she worked hard, and I don't think that either of us could have predicted the results."
Richardson echoed this feeling. "I'm so proud of my team and I congratulate Neil and his team for their efforts," she said.
While she will stay on the Senate, Richardson said that she does not intend to seek the position of vice president during the body's internal elections next week and instead will likely run to keep her current position as chair of the Senate's Education Committee.
DiBiase, who currently serves as the TCU historian, campaigned on a platform that supported making the Senate more responsive to the needs of the student body, advocating for the Greek system and working to foster a Tufts identity.
One of his primary campaign goals has been to create a Senate liaison program to connect senators with members of the Tufts community.
"I think people really related to the creation of the Tufts identity ... and I think having a Senate that understands every student on this campus is an idea that everyone can relate to," he said after the election.
DiBiase, who is a brother in Theta Chi, also said that his plans to help the Greek system, by bringing chapter presidents and the presidents of culture houses together into one office and by encouraging them to make their views known on Senate, attracted support from the Greek community.
"I think they understand that it's time that the Greek system be an integral part of this campus, as well as the culture house system," he said.
Also on the ballot yesterday were four questions about renewing community representative seats.
The Queer Straight Alliance, Pan-African Alliance, Association of Latin American Students and the Asian Community at Tufts community representative seats were all renewed with 70 percent support each, according to Weldai.
These communities will pick their representatives, who will serve on the Senate and have the ability to vote on all but Treasury-related matters, today.
This is the first time that these seats came up for renewal since they were instituted four years ago, but their presence on yesterday's ballot may have caused some confusion since it did not contain any information about their purpose.
"I think that more information could have been available," Weldai said, citing a lack of precedent for having a ballot question about renewing these particular seats as a reason for not making explanations about them available.
Overall, though, he said that the elections went smoothly. Although the percentage of voters stayed the same as last year, Weldai said that more students voted this year. In 2006, 1,984 students voted as compared to this year's total of 2,175.
A larger student body this year led to a slightly diluted overall percentage, Weldai said.
Current TCU president Mitch Robinson, who did not endorse a candidate during the election season, said that he is happy with the result, but that he would have been confident no matter who won.
"One of the great things about this election is that there were two fantastic candidates," Robinson said.
With the election over, "now the tough work begins," he said.
DiBiase agreed. "It's time to get started," he said.
