Singer, Dimmling Clinch Senior Class Offices

Ben Singer and Ursula Dimmling were declared the winners after grabbing 749 of the 1,248 votes cast, beating out Josh Baylin and Eugene Kim, who captured 499 votes.

The results were announced by Board of Elections Chairman Jeremy Tuchmayer to a crowded room full of people anxious to hear the outcome. After Singer's team was declared the winner, he exhaled a sigh of relief and hugged his running mate before shaking hands with his opponents.

"We are so very excited right now," Singer said.

"We are confident that we are supposed to be here."

His partner was equally enthused about their victory and said she looks forward to going into office.

"We are so excited and very enthusiastic," Dimmling said. "We want to unite the class and make it an awesome year for everyone."

Baylin said that while he was not pleased with the results, he was not discouraged by the defeat.

"I think we're disappointed, but it's certainly not going to stop us from moving on," Baylin said.

Kim agreed with his running mate, saying he was excited about the number of votes they did receive.

"I think historically that losers tend to feel sad after they lose, and that sums up how I feel right now," Kim said.

"We jumped a good 200 some odd votes (since the last election), and we feel good about that. The people have spoken."

With 1,248 votes cast, many people participated in the runoff election.

"We were really surprised at the number of voters who turned out for the election," Singer said.

"Josh and Eugene were very good candidates and ran a great campaign, but we were excited about the margin of our victory."

Baylin said he was extremely proud of the way he and Kim ran their bid for office.

"We were 100 percent up-front with all of the voters," Baylin said.

"That was the most important thing that we did."

Kim expressed his interest in continuing to help people and making the University better even though he did not get elected to office.

The new senior class officers said they are looking forward to taking office and working for those who had elected them.

"The first thing we are going to do when we get in office is choose a diverse selection of senior class marshals so we can work together as a team," Dimmling said. "We want to branch out and get the opinions of all seniors. We want to know what they want us to do for them."

Dimmling said she had plans of celebrating their victory by partying with those who helped make it happen.

"I think we're all going to hang out here with some people from our campaign staff," Dimmling said. "The best thing is that we get to sleep in tomorrow, and then it's back to class."

Singer and Dimmling ran on a platform of having a set of risers at basketball games exclusively for seniors, more on-campus senior parking, improving the current University career services and more social interaction within the class.

Singer said he plans on working diligently for the seniors to make it their best year at UNC.

"We want people to know that we are going to work for our promises," Singer said.

"We are not going to let anyone down."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.