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Impact, Duff see defeat By Veronica Daehn and Katie Mueting -ASUN ELECTIONS , . „ . . .. JoshWolfe/DN BRAD BANGS, Impact first vice presidential candidate, makes a call in a stairwell at P 0 Pears moments after it was announced he and presidential candidate John Conley lost the election late Wednesday night. Impact’s loss. “I thought about voting for John,” Kidd said. “Impact has been nothing but cool to us. They’ve gone out of their way to help us out.” Kidd said he knew there would be a run-off, but he thought it would be between Duff and Impact. “The four best candidates are here right now,” Kidd said. Duff first vice presidential candi date Kevin Sypal said his party’s focus now shifts to supporting Ellis. “She’s a very, very qualified candi date, and she’ll do a good job,” Sypal said. “She’s got a lot of emotion and power behind her words and actions.” Conley said he would not support Empower or A-Team next week. “I cannot openly support Heath Mello,” Conley said. “But A-Team is not good for the university either. They’re good guys, but I worry about them sitting across the table from a regent and speaking on behalf of myself.” Though disappointed that Impact did not get elected, Kidd said Duff will push for Empower. “This is Heath’s life,” Kidd said. “Heath cares about this school. A-Team doesn’t stack up.” Empower and Impact were too much alike, Conley said, and A-Team attracted voters who had never voted. “Mr. Mello would have won out right if I hadn’t run,” Conley said. “I would have won outright if Mr. Mello hadn’t run.” Kidd said his party probably affect ed the votes Impact received. “I think we did take away from Impact’s votes,” Kidd said. “Think of all the fraternity and sorority members and the freshmen and sophomores who voted for us that would have otherwise voted for Impact. “Impact had the best platform and the best candidates.” Ellis also said she was proud of the way members of Impact ran their cam paign. Ellis said Impact was a “clean, non-bashing party.” At the beginning of the campaign, Ellis said she told the other candidates they would become best friends. She was right, she said. Sypal said Duff started organizing three weeks ago. If the party had had longer to plan and campaign like the others did, the results could have been different, he said. “I seriously, honestly wanted to make a difference. Do you aim high or go for the status quo?” Sypal said. Despite the loss, Impact’s campaign manager, Jaron Luttich, said he was happy with the integrity of the cam paign. “Our party held itself to the highest of standards,” said Luttich, a founder of Impact. “I know that they are the best candidates. I just wish that 500 or so more students could know that like I know that.” Staff uniter Defeat showed two faces after Wednesday’s ASUN elections. Duff presidential candidate Jason Kidd threw out words of anger and frus tration. Impact Presidential Candidate John Conley sat quietly in the corner of a crowded booth. Amy Ellis, Impact’s second vice presidential candidate, sat next to Conley’s running mate Brad Bangs, who stared straight ahead. Ellis covered her face to hide the tears. Impact and Duff gathered at PO Pears, 322 S. Ninth St., to await election results together, but neither party expected what eventually came. Ellis will face Empower’s second vice presidential candidate, Mike Butterfield, in a run-off election next Wednesday, but her two running mates are done. Conley and Bangs missed next week’s runolf by 52 votes. Heath Mello and Cecily Rometo, Empower’s executive candidates, will face A-Team executive candidates Joel Schafer and Riley Peterson next Wednesday in a run-off for ASUN pres ident and vice president. Empower received 951 total votes, while A-Team was second with 697. Impact came in third with 645 votes, and Duff had 475. There will be a run-off because Empower did qot earn 50 percent of the total vote or beat A-Team by more than 10 percent of the votes. Kidd said his party wasn’t upset about its loss. Duff was upset about All amendments fail By CaraPesek Staff writer UNL students failed to pass any of the three proposed amendments to the ASUN constitution Wednesday. Two-thirds of students who voted in the election - 1,924 of 2,915 — would have had to vote in favor of the amendments in order for them to pass. The first proposed amendment would have eliminated the senate seat for the Division of Continuing Studies. The amendment would have required that all senators be enrolled in at least 12 credit hours. A Division of Continuing Studies senator has to be enrolled in only three credit hours. The amendment received 58 per cent of the total vote. ASUN President Andy Schuerman proposed the amendment. Schuerman said fewer than 50 stu dents are currently enrolled in classes offered by the Division of Continuing Studies. “I proposed this primarily to make the requirements for it congruent with the other senate seats,” Schuerman said. In addition, Schuerman said, the senate seat has been vacant for several years. Schuerman also proposed the sec ond amendment students voted down Wednesday. This amendment, which was sup ported by 61 percent of those who voted, would have reduced the chances of a run-off election by dis counting votes cast for ineligible can didates, such as Mickey Mouse. In order for the president and vice president to be elected, they must receive 10 percent more votes than the nearest competitor. Schuerman said discounting votes for ineligible candidates would make the chances of an expensive run-off less likely. The third amendment, proposed by Arts and Sciences Sen. Natalie Hoover, would have recast the ASUN constitution’s language to be gender neutral. More than two-thirds of the 2,673 students who voted on the amend ments voted in favor of the gender neutrality amendment. However, the amendment didn’t receive approval of the required two thirds of the total number of students who vote, because some students chose not to vote on the amendments at all. Schuerman said he was disap pointed none of the proposed amend ments passed. Both Schuerman and Hoover said a general lack of education among stu dents led to the amendments’ failure. “A lot of students just mark ‘no’ rather than go through the time to find out about the amendments,” Schuerman said. Hoover agreed. “The ballot language can be a bit confusing, and if people aren’t educat ed, they won’t know which way to vote,” she said. Schuerman and Hoover also agreed that although they could have spent more time educating students about the amendments addressed, get ting students interested in the issues was no easy task. “Educating students about an amendment is a thankless job,” Schuerman said. Voter turnout up 7.6percent By Jill Zeman Staff writer Students who increased this year’s voter turnout by more than 7'/2 percent were unable to choose a definitive win ner in Wednesday’s ASUN election. This year, 2,915 students cast votes in the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska student govern ment election, a total of 14.4 percent of eligible student voters. Last year 13.2 percent of eligible students voted, a total of2,709. A run-off will be held next Wednesday because no candidate for president, vice president or second vice president was victorious in the election. ASUN guidelines state if a party does not receive more than 50 percent of the votes or 10 percent more votes than the party coming in second place, a iun-off election must be held. Todd Franzen, a senior agriculture education and agriculture business major and director of the Electoral Commission, said he was pleased with this year’s election because there was a good turnout, and the commission had no major problems. Franzen said that having four par ties running contributed to a higher turnout. “The diversity of parties and candi dates reached out to die students to get interested in ASUN,” Franzen said. In the presidential race, Heath Mello and Cecily Rometo of Empower came out ahead with 34.01 percent of the vote, while A-Team candidates Joel Schafer and Riley Peterson captured second place with 24.92 percent. Empower led A-Team by 9.09 per cent of the votes. The two parties will face each other again March 8. John Conley and Brad Bangs of Impact followed A-Team closely, com Voter _# T u r n o u t 1995 12.7% - 1996 8.4% -^ 1997 9.8% 1998 13.5% - 1999 13.2% 2000 14.4% All-time high in the 1990's 16.3% David Jane/DN ing in third with 23.06 percent of the vote. Nearly 17 percent of the voters cast their ballots for Jason Kidd and Kevin Sypal of Duff. Students voting in the run-off elec tion for the executive candidates also will have the opportunity to vote for second vice presidential candidates because that race also ended in a run off. Empower candidate Mike Butterfield came in first with 34.26 percent of the vote, and Amy Ellis of Impact followed with 24.7 percent. Joel Webber of A-Team captured 22.31 percent of the vote, and Duff can didate Betsey Saunders received 18.03 percent. Many voters said they felt the need to get involved in student government. “I think you need to vote because these issues affect you,” said Justin Vondrak, a sophomore finance major. Vondrak said ASUN possibly could increase voter turnout by informing students about what student govern ment does. “I think some people don’t vote because they don’t understand what it entails,” he said. Andthe winners are... 2000 ASUN senatorial elections Unofficial votes for candidates, only winners listed. Seats by party Impact: 7 Empower: 14 Independent: 2 Agriculture and Natural Resources (2 seats) Brady Fritz (140), Empower; Graham Rupe(163), Impact Architecture (1 seat) Lindsay Day (20) Empower Arts and Sciences (6 seats) Jason Mashek (275), Empower; Angela Clements (292), Impact; Sarah Kippenbrock (267), Empower; Nathan Fuerst (248), Impact; Urrvano Gamez (277), Independent; Aja Bowling (243), Impact Business Administration (4 seats) Jamie Howell (196), Empower; David Kavanaugh (199), Empower; Jon Kirscher (182), Empower; Jessica Lopez (227), Empower Continuing Studies (1 seat) TO BE DETERMINED BY WRITE-IN Dentistry (1 seat) TO BE DETERMINED BY WRITE-IN Engineering (2 seats) Emily Bannick (97), Empower; Kourtney Mueller (150), Independent Fine and Performing Arts (1 seat) Abby Miller (38), Empower General Studies (4 seats) Michelle Schrage (162), Empower THREE SEATS TO BE DETERMINED BY WRITE-IN Graduate (6 seats) SIX SEATS TO BE DETERMINED BY WRITE-IN Human Resources and Family Sciences (1 seat) Megan Bredenkamp (70), Empower Journalism and Mass Communications (1 seat) Amy Nguyen (87), Empower Law (1 seat) Jeremy Patrick (3), Impact Nursing (1 seat) TO BE DETERMINED BY WRITE-IN Public Affairs and Community Service (1 seat) Elizabeth Elliott (24), Impact Teachers College (2 seats) Sarah Schoenrock (114), Empower; Megan Adkins (92), Impact The Daily Nebraskan would like to congratulate all the winners in todays ASUN elections.