Undergraduates turned out in record numbers for Student Assembly (SA) elections March 3-5, voting directly for the first time for president and executive vice president. The election was unprecedented, with the top three presidential slates separated by less than 250 votes.

Rammy (rhymes with "Sammy") Salem '10 was elected the 2009-10 president, and Olamide "Ola" Williams '10 was voted executive vice president.

"They ran a really smart campaign," said Mike McDermott '09, SA director of elections. "They reached out to a lot of different groups, sending a lot of e-mails to the Greek community, different minority groups and housing initiatives. The largest factor was mobilizing the vote." Their campaign focused on involving all undergraduates in student government, McDermott said. "Students identified with that."

Twenty candidates ran for the undergraduate at-large seats, including seven pairs of running mates who competed for the presidency and executive vice presidency. Chris Basil '10 and Nikki Junewicz '10 won undergraduate at-large seats.

About 35 percent of undergraduates voted, up from about 10 percent in years past. McDermott attributes the increase to changes in election rules that reduced red tape, allowed candidates to campaign more broadly and established the new popular vote.

In previous years, the SA representatives had elected president and executive vice president. But in February 2008, the SA changed its charter to allow for a popular vote and reserved two of the four undergraduate at-large seats for president and executive vice president.

Full results of the Student Assembly and Undergraduate Assembly elections are online at http://assembly.cornell.edu/Elections/2009SpringSA.