Xavier Sparrow '04, who goes by Blake, won the run-off with Tom Scott-Craig '04, after the field was narrowed from five candidates. Sparrow defeated Scott-Craig by a margin of 115 votes to 100 votes.
Sparrow said that he was happy to have been selected from the group. "I thought that that all the candidates were equally qualified for the position," he said.
Sparrow campaigned on a platform that suggested TAP alternatives and expanded cable television and media services in freshmen and upperclass residences.
The first round of balloting among juniors resulted in a close finish between Zeeya Jamal '02 and Katherine Vondy '02, with neither candidate winning a majority of the votes.
Vondy won the run-off by a margin of 70 votes to 66. Vondy said that her main goals this year include more junior class events, parking and storage issues, and Amherst community service projects.
As previously reported, the online system drew fewer voters than last year's polling station in the Valentine Atrium, with run-offs showing an even poorer showing, especially among freshmen.
Only 215 freshmen voted in the run-off, compared with 282 in the first election. Junior voting dropped by only three votes, from 139 to 136.
Sparrow said that he believed that there would have been a higher voter turn out if more freshmen knew about the run-offs.
"Most of the freshman class was unaware that there were run-offs. It has to be better publicized the next time," Sparrow said.
He claimed that for freshmen unfamiliar with Amherst's previous system, the online balloting seemed cumbersome and sometimes frustrating.
"Online balloting was a bit irritating," said Sparrow. "About 10 people I know of had difficulty voting online because the system didn't recognize them."
But Vondy praised the online balloting system because she believed that it expanded the opportunities of students on and off campus to vote.
"The benefits outweighed the disadvantages," said Vondy. "Voting time was not limited to only mealtimes. Online ballots were especially effective for the junior class because they gave students who are abroad the opportunity to vote."
Student Government Organization (SGO) President Steven Ruckman '01 said that he was proud of the online balloting system. "I consider it to be an absolute success, and I definitely plan to use this system for future elections," said Ruckman. "Congratulations to Ned Friend ['01] for creating a thorough, well-laid out online ballot."
Ruckman believed that the success of online voting at Amherst will encourage other colleges to start using online voting for their own student elections.
"I think that our on-line election process will serve as a model to neighboring colleges that want to improve the efficiency of their election process," said Ruckman. "The old and error-prone system of ballot counting is history, as is the wasteful paper use."
Many students, both candidates and voters, were frustrated by how slowly the election results became available.
Allowing students to challenge the ballots online caused a slightly longer than normal delay.
"I wish that the candidates could also be able to waive their right to a dispute in order to know election results earlier," Sparrow said.
According to Ruckman, the election's only disappointment was the shortage of candidates for First-Year Student Senator At-Large positions. Dan Geldon '04 was the only candidate who ran for the position.
"It is unfortunate, I think, that there were not candidates for all three of the First-Year Student Senator At-Large positions, since we created those thinking there was an urgent need for more freshmen representation," Ruckman said.
The SGO has received many applications for the vacancies, which will be filled by appointment.