For the second year in a row, junior business and communication major Erik Pederson was elected president of Northern Kentucky University’s Student Government Association.

Pederson, along with his now vice president-elect sophomore theatre major David Trump, beat out candidates John Jose and Clayton Castle by 61 votes and Chaz Edwards and Abby Gross by 191 votes.

This year’s campaign was one of the most fun and exciting in a while, according to current SGA President Pederson who has served on SGA for the past three years.

On top of the usual tactics such as chalking the NKU campus sidewalks with campaign messages, some of the candidates took advantage of the ever-growing world of social media and technology this year, creating videos to announce their platforms, publicizing the election via supporters’ Facebook statuses and creating sometimes highly comical political memes to draw in support.

Before the announcement of the results on the evening of March 28, candidates and their supporters trickled up to the third floor of the Student Union where everyone gathered and waited anxiously.

“I honestly don’t know what to say right now,” said sophomore undeclared major and presidential candidate John Jose as he waited, surrounded by a group of supporters. “So many hours of hard work have gone into this single day.”

Presidential candidate and junior Chaz Edwards and his running mate vice-presidential candidate and senior Abby Gross also awaited the results on the third floor, looking optimistic, surrounded by a swarm of supporters in their “Edwards and Gross” T-shirts.

And then the results were announced.

The crowd went wild with mixed reactions as the results were read at approximately 10:15 p.m.

At the front of the crowd, Pederson jumped with excitement and threw his hands up in relief with several other members of the crowd nearby.

“There aren’t words to describe how I feel. This is what I love,” Pederson said upon being re-elected. “The fact that everyone had faith in me to allow me to do this for a second year is amazing.”

The other candidates such as Jose and his running-mate, sophomore journalism major, Clayton Castle appeared somewhat upset and stunned by the results, but were quick to congratulate the winners.

Overall, Pederson and other campaigners and supporters in the crowd just seemed relieved that elections were finally over.

“There are a lot of things to be excited about for the future,” Pederson said. “Just so many things to be excited about.”

This will make for Pederson’s third year in a row with a presidential or vice presidential seat within NKU’s SGA, having served as the 2011-12 SGA Vice President.

Pederson’s running-mate David Trump currently serves as SGA Secretary for Administrative Affairs. Both Pederson and Trump will take their newly won presidential and vice presidential seats at the beginning of the Fall 2013 semester.

The proposed constitutional amendment referendum, also on this year’s ballot, passed by 792 votes.

The passing of this amendment, according to the SGA website, means there will be another subcommittee within SGA created that is designed specifically to deal with student academic success.

The amendment also established several definition changes.

The official results for the spring 2013 SGA elections can be seen at www.SGA.nku.edu.