The Student Union filled 10 of the 12 open positions during the first round of Spring Elections over the weekend, leaving only the Rosenthal Quad Senator and Midyear Senator positions unfilled.

The election, which ran from midnight Friday to midnight Saturday, used the Union’s new definition of majority, according to the email sent from Union secretary Shuying Liu ’16 to the student body. “If ABSTAIN is composed of 50 [percent] or less of the voting body, it means the majority of voting students did support a candidate entering the office,” the email read.

Liu explained the reason for the new definition of majority in a Nov. 24 Justice article: “We re-looked at the constitution, and it says that abstain wins only if it wins a majority vote, which means that it is greater than 50 percent. We interpreted the constitution differently this time because we think it’s more fair to all candidates,” she continued. Liu explained what voting for abstain entails in her email to the student body announcing the elections. “Keep in mind that by selecting the ABSTAIN option, you imply NO candidate is suitable for the position—whatever your reasons may be—and that by selecting abstain you affect the election results,” she wrote.

Morris Nadjar ’19 won the vacant seat for Massell Quad Senator, according to an analytics sheet attached to Liu’s announcement of the election results. Nadjar received 32 of the 74 votes cast in the election, but under the new majority definition he was elected due to winning the majority of non-Abstain votes.

Additionally, Mitch Mankin ’16 won the Off Campus Senator position, tallying 62 percent of the 110 votes cast in the election. Cacildia Cain ’18 became the new Class of 2018 Senator, defeating Matthew Kowalyk ’18 in the race. Cain received 82 votes for 44 percent of the voting responses.

Ryan Tracy ’17 was elected Class of 2017 Senator, receiving 79 percent of the vote, while Gwenyth Fraser ’17 won the position of Ziv Quad Senator, tallying 41 of the 50 votes cast in the election. Stephanie Reifenberg ’16 became the new Class of 2016 Senator, receiving 70 percent of the 145 votes that were cast in the election.

The position of Midyear Senator is currently unfilled after Vincent Lauffer ’19 received two votes as a write-in candidate. His two votes tied him with the Abstain option, a result that, according to the Union Constitution, sees the candidate declared the winner. The Union Constitution reads, “If there is a tie between a candidate and abstain, then the candidate will be declared the winner of the seat.

Liu clarified the election’s result in an email to the Justice, writing, “Lauffer actually won the midyear senator position after I discussed with the Judiciary board,” she wrote. “However, because he won by only two votes and by write-in, I will set up a meeting with him to talk about his duties and find if he wants to take the position.”

The position of Rosenthal Quad senator was also left unfilled even though Claudia Roldan ’18 won 30 of the 39 votes. “Although [Roldan] won the Rosie senator position, she actually dropped out of the election,” Liu explained in an email to the Justice. “I didn’t know it until the result came out, so that position is still vacant.”

In accordance with the recent changes to Allocations Board, four new members were elected. Xini Xu ’19 and Xiaoran Wang ’18 were elected to two-semester seats on the board. Emma Russell ’19 was elected to the three-semester seat on the board, and Jaibei Wang ’18 was elected to the Racial Minority seat on the board.

Liu confirmed in an email to the Justice that the vacant positions will likely be open for re-election in the coming weeks but said no date has been finalized yet for the subsequent election.

—Hannah Wulkan contributed reporting.