By BRIAN TYNES

Staff Writer

Five newly elected officers will take their positions in the Student Government Association, and one office is pending run-off, despite low participation in freshman elections held Oct. 12 and 13.

Of 1,914 freshmen, only 249 (13 percent) cast votes. The turnout was even lower for graduate students as only 28 of 2,379 (slightly more than 1 percent) voiced their opinions.

"It's a little discouraging because we want freshmen to go out and vote and voice their opinion," Kimberly Ludwig, SGA president and a senior business management and entrepreneurship major, said.

Ludwig said the SGA will promote campus voting in university seminar classes, but will otherwise be relying on the candidates to boost participation.

But low participation did not prevent the votes from being counted.

The candidates for freshman president were narrowed to P.J. Graham, a freshman political science major, and Frank Williams, a freshman computer science major, from the six candidates in the initial election. A runoff was held yesterday to determine the winner.

Liz Bolton, a freshman elementary education major, Heather Bowden, a freshman elementary education major, Jared Evans, a freshman basic and career studies major, and Mandy Thomas, a freshman journalism major, were elected to serve as freshman senators in the elections.

All four said they were looking forward to participating in campus organizations and helping out their fellow students.

"I wanted to get involved in the school, and there are a lot of girls in my sorority who said it was a good idea," Thomas said.

Bowden said she agreed with Thomas, and added that she was expecting to gain knowledge and familiarity with the SGA and carry that over to a higher position in the future.

"I wanted to get more involved with the politics side of Tech, not just the Union Board," Bowden said. "I'm glad I won because I hope to get experience under my belt to run for [a higher SGA office]."

Bolton said she served as a senator four years in high school and looks forward to expanding on her experience at the college level.

"I'm excited about the opportunity to serve my class and see what student government at the college level is all about," Bolton said. "I thought it would be a good way for me to get involved in a campus organization."

Evans said he held three positions in high school and planned on running for office at Tech but he was a little surprised he ran this early.

"I wanted to get my name out there and help the freshman class," Evans said. "I talked with [my fraternity] about holding a position in my later years and they approached me about running for senator."

The second election was for graduate senator. Paul Caplis, Jr., a graduate student of cell and molecular biology, ran uncontested and said he was excited to have the chance to serve the students.

"I got my undergraduate degree from Tech, and now I'm working on my [master's degree] and I want to be more involved with what's going on with the university and the students," Caplis said. "It's something I wanted to do, and I wanted to be involved at Tech and what goes on here. I want to have a more active role."