Without setting foot in office J.J. Raynor already has campus buzzing as she has managed to do something no on else has since 1997 - take the majority vote in a general election among three or more candidates.
Campuswide office candidates are required to win at least 51 percent of the vote so in most races with more than two people a runoff is required.
In recent history the race for the 2006-07 student body presidential position was the only one without a runoff as James Allred and Bernard Holloway were the only candidates.
But runoffs have become a campus election hallmark" providing students with an additional week to hear from their candidates.
""The runoff is treated just like a normal election"" said Mitchell Capriglione, chairman of the Board of Elections. All the same rules of the last week of the election are applied.""
During the 1997 election" Mo Nathan captured the title of student body president winning about 70 percent of the vote.
He had 2"206 ballots compared to his opponents Andrew Pearson and Shawn Faley who gained 448 and 443 votes respectively.
Former Board of Elections Chairman Jim Brewer said this might show a correlation between voting campaigns and first-round wins.
""In '97" that was the last time the board did a huge effort to get the vote out" Brewer said, mentioning that the board promised incentives such as free food to voters.
In the event of a runoff, hopefuls get a stipend for the extra campaign costs, starting with $100 for student body president down to $10 for Student Congress.
Although students are given extra time and money for a runoff, Brewer said that candidates generally plan runoff strategies.
Everybody plans for a runoff when you have more than two candidates"" Brewer said. It would be absolutely ill-advised to not take that into account when planning.""
But former candidates said runoff time can be both a blessing and a hindrance.
""On the one hand" it gave me one less week of mentorship" said Eve Carson, current student body president. But it gave me this opportunity to tell everyone again ... why it was that I wanted to run for them.""
Allred noted that having a runoff puts the president one week behind"" preventing him or her from appointing a Cabinet.
""Raynor's ability to win the race on the first ballot means she's one week ahead in implementing her platform"" Allred said in an e-mail.
Allred mentioned Raynor's organization as an aid, especially in getting students to vote.
This year, there were 6,625 ballots cast, compared to last year's record-setting turnout of 7,241.
The votes were split with 3,267 going to Raynor, 1,601 to Logan Liles and 1,403 to Kristin Hill.
It definitely shows that the student body thought J.J. Raynor was a great choice for student body president just judging from her campaign and not taking anything away from anyone else"" Capriglione said, adding that Raynor approached him in the fall to find out what she could and could not do during elections.
Just from that (early meeting) and seeing what she did throughout the entire campaign"" she obviously was trying to show students that she was the most qualified.""
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
