The polls closed last Thursday night, but two student body officer positions are still up for grabs.

Students elected Katie Perkins the 2010-11 Student Body Secretary. Perkins beat Austin Poynter by a total of 689 votes.

Jack Benage and Jake Torres will face off for Student Body President. Benage garnered 665 votes to Torres’ 618. Alex Ehmke and Austin Prentice will square off for Student Body Vice President. Ehmke received 688 votes to Prentice’s 784.

Runoffs are held when no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote. Polls will open Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. and close Thursday at 5 p.m.

Perkins said she was “honored and privileged” to be the new Student Body Secretary and that she was “looking forward to” her new job.

Benage said he was excited to be in the runoff and that he’s looking forward to see what happens. He said that although Torres was “a great guy with lots of passion,” students should vote for him because he has more specific goals than Torres, which he will be able to tackle and get done.

Torres said he has had fun talking to students about Student Senate, although he’s “ready for the election to be over.” Torres said students should vote for him because he has more experience than Benage and because the issues he’s focused on will “impact a wider audience.”

Benage’s main goals include improving Senate from within, motivating senators and building a new student center. Torres’ main goals include improving services and the relationship between students and SMU and expanding Hughes-Trigg by moving SMU PD to Expressway Towers across Central Expressway.

Prentice said he was “very ecstatic to receive the most votes” and to have almost 100 more votes than the second place runner-up. He said his hardest challenge this week will be to get everyone to revote, although he said he hopes to pull a few votes from those who supported Matt Neman since they both support IFC.

Prentice said that students should vote for him because, “I’m going to do what I say,” and because he will be “there for the people.”

Ehmke said it was “pretty exciting” to come in second place, but he notes that he has “a lot of work to do” in the coming week to get people to recast their votes. He said his campaign strategy has changed from trying to convince people to vote for him to a “get out the vote” strategy.

Ehmke said students should vote for him because he has more experience than Prentice and has written legislation during his tenure—something he noted Prentice has not done.

Ehmke and Prentice differ on the issue of special interest seats. Prentice favors adding special interest seats, including one for sexual orientation, while Ehmke feels that they are unnecessary. Prentice’s name appears on the LGBT seat legislation.

Prentice challenged Ehmke on his stance during last week’s SBO debate:

“Looking out at this crowd right now, you cannot tell me that we are not a diverse student body,” Prentice said during the debate. “You cannot tell me that having African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, international senate seats does not add a vital, vital part to the Student Senate.”

 “When I look out on this group, I don’t see a single person I don’t think I could talk to, who I don’t think I can communicate with, find out what’s concerning them on campus and address that concern,” Ehmke said during the debate. “I don’t think there’s any issue that is so complicated or so esoteric to one group on campus that I cannot comprehend it.”