France Nielson defeated Sam Glanzer in the election for 2004-2005 BYUSA president.

Current BYUSA president Dave Johnson announced the results Friday, Feb. 13, in the Terrace in the Wilkinson Student Center. Nielson won with 1678 votes, while Glanzer received 1534 votes. Greg Moody will be Nielson's executive vice president.

"I'm looking forward to this coming year," Nielson said in his acceptance speech. "I look forward to it with optimistic eyes. This is too good to be true."

After the announcement, Glanzer wished Nielson good luck in his new office, but expressed surprise at being beaten and disappointment in voter turnout.

"Last year for finals we had over 6,000 voters -- about 23 percent; this year, barely 3,000, barely 10 percent," Glanzer said. "That's very disappointing."

Johnson also expressed disappointment at the low voter turnout. He said he thought the disqualification of Sarah Stevenson and Bryce Porter in the primary election made many voters feel powerless to make a difference.

"Clearly the news of the disqualification hurt voter turnout," Johnson said. "I would have liked to see a lot higher voter turnout this year."

Nielson said he was surprised at the low voter turnout, and he expected 6,000 to 7,000 total votes in the election. He said he thought the biggest factor in his victory was the support he and Moody, a resident assistant, got from students in the dorms, as well as support from other friends.

"I think we got a lot of votes from ... a lot of friends, talking with friends," Nielson said.

Nielson and Moody will take office in April and will serve for a year. In the meantime, they will be trained and will learn what is happening at BYUSA.

Nielson said he plans to continue existing BYUSA programs like the mentored learning program. He said he does not know exactly what other programs he will continue until he receives some training.

"It's kind of hard to think about all of them right now with all the excitement," Nielson said.

Glanzer will finish out this year as BYUSA vice president, and his running mate Kim Gardner will continue to serve as public relations vice president.



Copyright Brigham Young University 17 Feb 2004