Two of the three contested races for Duke Student Government executive positions have resulted in runoffs: Trinity juniors Bianca Motley and Jeri Powell will vie for the presidential position while Trinity junior Sheri Shepherd and Trinity sophomore Sean Murphy battle for vice president for student affairs.
Powell, currently DSG vice president for facilities and athletics, received 1.8 percent more votes than Motley, currently DSG vice president for student affairs. For a candidate to win a clean race, he or she must win with a six-percent margin.
The race for vice president of student affairs was hotly contested among all four candidates, but Murphy and Shepherd came out above the rest. Murphy received 1.5 percent more votes than Shepherd.
Candidates have one additional week to campaign until the March 12 run-off election, at which the winning candidates need to receive only a simple majority.
The last run-off for DSG president occurred in 1995 in a hotly contested and controversial race in which Peggy Cross won over Milan Selassie, both Trinity '96.
Powell and Motley, although both tired and sick, said they are ready to undergo another week on the campaign trail.
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Powell expressed similar sentiments, adding that she was pleased to garner more than 1,000 votes.
"I knew it would be really tight, but I didn't know if I would come in first or finish last," she said, attributing much of her success to the greek community. "I'm exhausted, but I feel good, I feel confident, and I'm just going to take a day to rest and regroup."
Current DSG President and Trinity senior Lino Marrero expressed his whole-hearted support for Powell.
"The closeness of this election proves that our students had a difficult choice," he said. "And I likewise had a difficult choice because of the quality of the candidates, but now I think there is a clearly superior candidate, and that is Jeri Powell. I've worked with both [Motley] and [Powell], and I think that [Powell] is a team player who has the interest of the student body at heart."
The Monday, Monday columnists, otherwise known as the Tossed Salad Men, received a "ridiculous number" of write-in votes, said Trinity senior Blair Greber-Raines, DSG attorney general.
The Tossed Salad Men could not be reached for comment. Ostensibly, they were asleep.
Like the run-off for DSG president, voters will elect their vice president for student affairs on March 12.
Shepherd said she is looking forward to another week on the campaign trail. "I'm really happy about it, and I'm going to work really hard," she said. "Hopefully, in the end, there will be a good result.
Murphy could not be reached for comment.
Trinity sophomore Lisa Zeidner won the position of DSG vice president of community interaction by a 41.5 percent margin.
"I'm very excited," Zeidner said, "and I think [the current DSG Vice President for Community Interaction and Trinity junior] Maya [Corey] did an amazing job this year, and I have big shoes to fill."
The three uncontested races yielded no surprises. Trinity sophomore Rusty Shappley will be DSG executive vice president, Trinity sophomore Ben Kennedy will be DSG vice president for academic affairs and Trinity sophomore Amir Rashid-Farokhi will be DSG vice president for facilities and athletics.
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