This time there wasn't a runoff. Results from the spring elections were announced on March 27, with Tim Ernst taking the top spot as the new SGA president. Also students chose a new logo for the union and also a new name for the University Times. Turnout however was a problem, as less than seven percent of the total enrollment of students came out to cast a ballot. 1222 people voted last week, down from 1776 in 2007.

Even with those who did vote, there was some selective ballot casting. Out of the 1222 students who took part in the election, only 1174 voted for a presidential candidate.

****** double click on the black box to watch video of the results *********

In the race for SGA President, Tim Ernst and his Vice President Jacob Pierce won convincingly with 647 votes. In second place was Darren Moorehead with 377 votes and Simon O'Brien finished third in the balloting with 150 votes.

Ernst said he wanted to thank everyone that voted and said his first order of business will be to put together an Executive Cabinet, while still maintaining his responsibilities as the current Vice President.

"I really have a passion for the issues," Ernst said, when asked why he decided to run. "It's something I enjoy doing. I'd do it (work with SGA) all day, every day if I could, if I could make a living that way."

Ernst's platform zeroed in on several issues, including the idea of campus safety. As SGA Vice President, he was appointed to serve on the new Campus Safety and Security Committee by Chamber Dubois. He also promised to work with Resident Councilors and Advisors to keep students updated about news and events, make the Campus Events webpage more user friendly and also work to get more people involved.

Things didn't go off completely without a hitch however, as there was a glitch in the balloting process for the College of Health & Human Services race. A coding error caused some of the votes not to be counted. On Friday, the announcement was made that a new election will be held for that specific race. It will take place Tuesday and Wednesday, April 1 and 2.

The newspaper staff decided to move forward with a name change, because the current one could refer to any university in the county and in fact, is used by both Duquesne and Cal State-Los Angeles. Suggestions have been taken since December and the top five vote getters made it to the ballot.

Ernst and his Vice President Jacob Pierce won convincingly with 647 votes. In second place was Darren Moorehead with 377 votes and Simon O'Brien finished third in the balloting with 150 votes.

Other poll results:

Newly elected senators....

College of Arts and Sciences:

Audra Hathaway-427 votes Christina Maher-424 votes Holly Byrd-414 votes Addison Friedman-412 votes Whitney Johnson-392 votes Sue Denham--387 votes Scott Lieberman-386 votes Fatima Mann-343 votes

College of Buisness:

Christa Register-97 votes Erin Hoskin-90 votes Sean Newton- 87 votes Stephen Thompson-83 votes Anna Roseman-82 votes Mark Gordy-76 votes Maxwell Grieshaber-71 votes Monica Alexander 64

College of Computing and Information Benjamin Smith-35 votes Joel McBeth-29 votes

The most popular name for the University Times name change is "The 49er Times", coming in with 351 votes.

The most popular student union logo is option #2 ( the logo with the graphic as the letter O)