Hoosier wins IUSA election

After two days of nonstop campaigning, followed by one day of waiting, the IU Student Association election results are in: Hoosier with 4,505 votes and Red Hot with 3,064. Hoosier also swept congress with every Hoosier candidate winning a seat. Red Hot won two off-campus seats, said Elections Coordinator Keith Johnson.\n"I'm so excited," said Hoosier President-Elect and junior Betsy Henke. "We're very, very honored to be able to do this and have this opportunity. Our team really stepped up to the plate and did an amazing job. I think that shows in the number of people that voted and stood behind us well."\nStudent trustee and former IUSA President Casey Cox said 4,000 votes is probably the most any ticket has received since online voting began in 2000. Also, he said 3,000 votes is probably the highest number received by a losing ticket since the inception of online voting.\nThis year's 7,716 ballots cast was down from 9,496 ballots cast last year.\nJohnson said he thinks voter turnout was higher in 2005 because there were four tickets, meaning there were more candidates campaigning. Nevertheless, Johnson said he's happy with the turnout.\nUniversity Chancellor Ken Gros Louis said he was somewhat disappointed with the numbers but agreed last year's four tickets could reach more students than could two tickets.\nCurrent IUSA President Alex Shortle said he was \nimpressed by the number of voters.\n"Our numbers are substantially higher (than most Big Ten schools)," he said.\nIn order to reach people, Henke said Hoosier visited different student groups and received endorsements from several of those groups prior to elections. \nHoosier Vice President of Congress-Elect and junior Clark Kaericher said the endorsements helped.\n"Pretty much every influential student group supported us," he said. \nRed Hot presidential candidate and junior Lenny Weiss said, in retrospect, he's not sure what his ticket could have done to win.\n"These processes are delicate and there's a lot of things," he said. "We could have probably gotten one more person to do one thing. We could have gone to one more place."\nDespite his ticket losing, Weiss said he's still happy-go-lucky and excited about life.\n"We worked really hard," he said. "It's hard to work for a long time and then not be as successful as possible, but the whole experience is a good educational value."\nWeiss congratulated Hoosier, saying he thinks the party will do well.\n"Theoretically, the results of the election are the results of what the students wanted," Weiss said.\nShortle said he urged Hoosier to get Red Hot involved.\n"Appoint them as directors ... they're clearly motivated," he said. "The true sign of a leader is getting involved, but not \nbeing the (top) leader."\nAnd having won every congressional seat for which it had candidates, Hoosier has a lot of leaders.\n"I'm really glad the congressional candidates did so well," Kaericher said. "We didn't have a single person lose. If you would have told me that when we first formed the ticket, I would have told you you're crazy."\nCandidates are elected to represent each school at IU. Before elections, both tickets reviewed the ballot, but neither realized the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation candidates were not on it, Johnson said. Because of a computer error, Honors College candidates appeared when HPER students voted online. Johnson said the Elections Commission appointed Red Hot candidate and junior Bryant Mosbey to fill the seat because he received the highest number of write-in votes.\nAdditionally, Johnson said another mistake made the ballot list "Graduate School," which doesn't exist, instead of "Labor Studies." Neither ticket had a candidate listed for the Division of Labor Studies, so the Elections Commission decided the new congress would fill the vacancy. \nNeither ticket had a candidate for the School of Continuing Studies or the School of Nursing. Amy Ward received two Continuing Studies write-in votes and Weiss received one. The Elections Commission appointed Ward to the seat. Johnson said executive candidates cannot receive congressional seats. \nTen students each received one nursing school write-in nomination. The commission assigned Shortle to select a victor, and he appointed sophomore Jill Delaney to the seat because of her past IUSA experience.\nAdditionally, Johnson said neither ticket filed any complaints during elections. \nExecutives and congress will be inaugurated April 15 and will serve until April 15, 2007. Henke will serve as president, and junior Andrew Lauck will serve as vice president of congress. Kaericher will serve as vice president of administration, and Mary Kerschner will be the treasurer.\nGros Louis said he appreciated both tickets' hard work.\n"I want to congratulate Hoosier and also to congratulate Red Hot for taking the time and energy to run," he said. "It was really good of all eight (executive candidates) to take the time to be spokespeople for Bloomington students"