Last Wednesday, members of the class of 2006 elected seven freshmen to the Association of Amherst Students (AAS). While eight seats were available, two candidates finished tied for the eighth seat in the final tally and a run-off will be held today to determine the final senator.

Freshmen Sameer Bashey, Caleb Deats, Andre Deckrow, Techo Kim, John Lian, Kin-Yee Ian Shin and Matt Vanneman were elected to the first-year class council.

"I'm happy I was elected and I'm excited about being a senator," said Deckrow. "I want people to know they should use their senators because if they don't, they are wasting that resource."

Kevin Han and Rania Arja finished the election tied with 106 votes.

The student body also passed an amendment to the AAS Constitution via referendum. According to the amendment, freshman senators will not be required to sit on faculty committees if not enough positions are available. Previously, all senators were required to serve on committees. There were no considerations made in the original constitution for the possibility that the number of senators without committee seats exceeded the number of remaining seats.

While 274 first-years voted in the election, 383 students voted on the referendum question. Last year, 269 freshmen voted in their class election.