Current Vice President Taylor Russ was elected to be the next Student Body President after a suspense-filled runoff election. The results shown on Feb. 27 showed that a record breaking 2,166 students voted in the first election, giving 876 votes to Russ, 563 to Michelle Wigianto and 471 to Jace Hinderland. No candidate received more than 50 percent of votes in the initial election, as required by the Student Body Constitutions, so a runoff between Russ and Wigianto was held on March 7 and 8.

Out of the 1,345 votes cast in the run-off election, Russ received 759 votes, earning 56.4 percent of the total votes cast. Wigianto earned 43.6 percent, with 586 votes.

Katherine Tullos and Brooks Powell will serve with Russ as vice president and secretary, respectively. All student body officers, senators and chairs will be inaugurated on April 25 in the Commons of Hughes-Trigg Student Center. The entire SMU community is invited to the event, which will begin at 3 p.m. Elected students serve an entire year, from May 2006 to May 2007.

The search for committee chair positions for the coming year will now begin.

Applications are available at http://www.smu.edu/studentsenate/opportunities.