In preparation for the Duke Student Government presidential runoff election today, the two remaining candidates focused their positions as each made a final push for votes.
Today's runoff will pit juniors Taylor Collison and Matthew Slovik against each other for the DSG presidency. In the first vote March 4, Slovik received 32.5 percent of the vote to Collison's 26 percent.
Both candidates spent Monday campaigning. Slovik said he was trying to buoy current supporters and reach out to other possible supporters, while Collison said he met with groups and talked to freshmen at the Marketplace on East Campus Monday night.
Collison seemed to have sharpened his rhetoric as the outside candidate more able to make the changes he said were necessary for the student government.
"I still feel I'm the best candidate for the position, the only candidate right now who will go into DSG and not be bound by the problems that have kept DSG inactive," he said.
Collison said he would focus on attracting the votes of the over 40 percent who did not vote in the first election - 57.4 percent of the student body voted March 4, a record-high turnout.
"You see a lot of people who think DSG hasn't represented them since they've been here," he said.
Both candidates stressed that they hoped their original supporters would return to vote for them as well.
Slovik remained confident about today's vote and hoped he would end up on top again in the runoff.
"I couldn't feel any better about my position heading into the runoff," Slovik said. "[I hope to] continue to show all the people who voted for me that I am the most experienced candidate and that I will help make the biggest difference for the student body."
DSG Attorney General Will Fagan said the online voting window would be open longer today, from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m., but that DSG would not operate any physical poling stations.
Christina Hsu, Asian Student Association president, said that although the body has not endorsed anyone since the first election, ASA was very complimentary to Collison in its first endorsement of junior Shaomeng Wang for president. Wang, who received 15.8 percent of the vote, has endorsed Slovik. In the closing days of the campaign, Wang had accused Collison supporters of tearing down his signs, a charge that DSG officials decided was unfounded.
Junior Mike Sacks, who received 15.6 percent of the vote, said he would not endorse either candidate because he is friends with both.
"I'd like to endorse someone, but I think they're both good guys and I don't want to get my hands dirty again," Sacks said. "I kind of want to wash my hands of the election."
His campaign manager Margaret Mash, however, has endorsed Collison. Sacks' position as an outsider candidate more willing to make drastic changes to the student government stood much more in line with Collison's platform.
Junior Adam Katz, who bottomed out the presidential race with 10.1 percent, also said he would not endorse either candidate because he is friends with both.
Collison, a native of Winter Park, Fla., and a public policy studies major, has only one year of DSG experience, as a legislator his freshman year.
As president of Craven Quadrangle and social chair of Alpha Tao Omega fraternity, Collison has emphasized that he would be an outside leader in DSG and thus more willing to take on major restructuring. He has been endorsed by The Chronicle's editorial board, the Duke Conservative Union, Mi Gente - the Latino student organization, Diya - the South Asian student organization, Class of 2006 President Chris Carr and junior Kevin Ogorzalek, Chronicle columnist and unsuccessful candidate for DSG vice president for facilities and athletics.
Slovik, a native of Newton, Mass., a member of Kappa Alpha Order fraternity and also a public policy studies major, spent the first half of this year studying abroad in Florence, Italy. A former DSG vice president for facilities and athletics, Slovik had the widest institutional experience in DSG of any of the five original candidates.
He has emphasized projects such as increased lighting and more SafeRides vans to boost off-campus safety. He has been endorsed by the Interfraternity Council and the Panhellenic Council - umbrella organizations for greek fraternities and sororities, Hillel - the Jewish student organization, the Black Student Alliance and former DSG president C.J. Walsh, Trinity '02.
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