The GUSA Senate will swear in 36 new members on Wednesday following elections that were held last week.

The results of the election were announced Friday in Sellinger Lounge, although the results had not been expected until yesterday. Efficiency expedited the verification process, said Election Commissioner Maura Cassidy (COL ’08).

Voting began on Monday through Key Form, an online voting system. The voting was scheduled to conclude the following day, but due to unexpected technical difficulties, it was extended until 9 p.m. on Wednesday.

“The Key Form server was overwhelmed the first night and it crashed,” Cassidy said. “We decided it would be fair to the candidates to push back the deadline and e-mail the whole student body.”

While candidates raised several questions concerning the change in deadline and its application to Senate bylaws, no challenges were filed, said Cassidy.

Among the winners were Eden Schiffmann (COL ’08), chief of staff for former student association President Twister Murchison (SFS ’08), Matt Stoller (COL ’08), Murchison’s deputy chief of staff and Reggie Greer (COL ’09), vice speaker of the Senate Transition Committee.

According to Cassidy, 1,930 students – about 30 percent of the student body – voted in the election, an increase from last year’s turnout of 1,045.

Cassidy said many races were closely contested this year, requiring the implementation of instant run-off voting. If no candidate receives an outright majority of votes, the votes of the candidate with the fewest votes are reallocated to those voters’ second choices.

“All things considered, the election went well,” said Cassidy. “The technical problems were out of our control. They are something we’ll have to fix before the presidential election.”

Mirco Haag-Gallin (SFS ’09), a returning senator who will now represent the A and B blocks of Village A, said the structure of the Senate was directly responsible for increased voter turnout. The Senate, which was instituted last year by a referendum of the student body, is different from the now-defunct Assembly because students are selected by geographic district.

“A lot more people voted, mainly because now they know the people running. In a smaller geographical area, it’s easier to mobilize people to vote,” Haag-Gallin said.

Excluding the off-campus district, floors 5-7 of Harbin Hall had the highest turnout, with 133 votes, surpassing New South floors 1-2 by five votes, according to election reports provided by Cassidy. Henle Village apartments 22-30 had the lowest voter turnout, with only eight votes in the district.

Write-in candidates won seats in the two districts, Nevils and Henle Village 31-60, where no candidate was officially running, Cassidy said.

Districts in underclassmen residence halls tended to have more candidates than upperclassmen districts, Cassidy said. Haag-Gallin attributed this to several possible factors.

“Upperclassmen are either disillusioned by GUSA or have no time. Only freshmen and sophomores have the luxury of the time for student government,” Haag-Gallin said.

Despite the lack of competition, some upperclassmen candidates said campaigning was still important.

“Even though I ran unopposed, I think campaigning is important. I’ve knocked on doors to say hello and tell people what I’ve done,” said Stoller, who will represent the 36th and 37th Streets townhouses.

The Senate will elect officers – including speaker, vice-speaker, secretary and chairperson of the Finance Committee – on Oct. 9.