At about 11 p.m., about an hour after voting ended, Board of Elections Chairwoman Emily Margolis announced that there will be a runoff election Tuesday between candidates Jen Daum and Will McKinney.
Daum received 30.1 percent of the 7,074 votes cast, while McKinney walked away with 28.1 percent.
An elated Daum appeared shocked at the announcement and immediately began crying.
"Oh my goodness!," Daum said. "I feel great. I am so happy. For the first time ever, I'm just speechless."
When she heard the results, Daum began climbing over the seats in the room, greeting supporters, hugging campaign staff and shaking the hands of other candidates. "I am proud of all my supporters who came out in force today," Daum said.
During Margolis' announcement, McKinney listened intently, showing little emotion.
"Now I'm going back to talk with my supporters," McKinney said. "I feel really excited."
McKinney said he is not worried about overcoming the 138-vote difference separating him from Daum and that he still is confident of his chance of winning.
Candidate Brad Overcash came in third with 24.5 percent of the vote.
He was followed by Fred Hashagen who received 7.1 percent of the vote and Bennett Mason who came in fifth with 5.1 percent of votes cast. Write-in candidate Nathan Katzin received 2.5 percent.
Margolis did not announce the names of candidates who received less than 2 percent of the vote, including write-in candidates Correy Campbell and Charlie Trakas.
Campbell and Trakas were originally slated to be on the ballot but were forced to run as write-in candidates after they did not get enough signatures to qualify to be official candidates.
Overcash said he was glad he ran even though he didn't win. "It's a real disappointment," he said. "I put a lot into it, and I thought we had a great campaign."
Overcash said he was not yet sure who he would endorse for next week's runoff. But he said he will encourage both candidates to incorporate a student summit, one of his main campaign issues, into their platforms.
Hashagen said he will remain involved in student government in some way, but he is not sure exactly in what capacity. He said he will be endorsing Daum for Tuesday's runoff.
Hashagen said that even though he did not get as many votes as he had hoped, he was glad his platform had brought many issues into the public eye. "I think I brought attention to at least one important issue, providing free HIV medicine for rape and sexual assault victims," Hashagen said.
Mason described the campaign as "three weeks of absolute intensity."
He also said he plans to endorse Daum in next week's runoff and that he hopes to play a role in student government no matter who ultimately wins the election.
"I will definitely stay involved in some capacity," Mason said.
Nathan Katzin said he will continue to encourage anyone interested in energy reform, his main campaign issue, to visit his Web site at http://www.unc.edu/~katzin.
"This is the very, very beginning of a campaign to raise awareness about sustainable energy sources," Katzin said.
McKinney and Daum each spent their Election Day in different ways.
Daum said she personally did not campaign as fervently Tuesday as she had been doing in the last three weeks but that her campaign staff worked hard to secure last-minute votes.
"I didn't really do anything (today)," she said. "I owe a lot to all of my supporters who worked so hard today."
In contrast, McKinney hit the campaign trail himself, prowling the campus until the polls closed at 10 p.m.
He also said he finally told his parents for the first time Tuesday that he was running for student body president.
"I told them this morning," he said.
Both Daum and McKinney said they would continue to promote their platforms during the next week. "Now we're just going to stick with what's been working and continue to work hard," Daum said. "We're going to continue to push the platform and talk to people."
McKinney also said he will continue to campaign actively.
He said he hopes to tweak his platform slightly in the next week to incorporate the ideas of some of the candidates who did not make it to the runoff.
"We're a big-tent campaign, and there's always room for more friends," McKinney said.
He also said he plans to continue the efforts that have brought him to the runoff. "We've been running hard for the past three weeks, and now we're just going to run a lot harder."
The Daily Tar Heel will host a runoff debate between Daum and McKinney at 7 p.m. Monday in 111 Carroll Hall.
The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.
