Voter turnout was high, with several close races, in the first round of Student Union elections on Thursday.

In the race for the Student Union presidency, Jacob Edelman ’18 — the Union’s Director of Communications — won 680 of the 1,243 votes cast, walking away with 54.71 percent of the vote.

In a pre-election debate moderated by the Brandeis Hoot and the Justice last Tuesday, Edelman emphasized the importance of Union transparency, diversity and inclusion. “So many of us feel the need for a more transparent Student Union, so that people don’t have to ask the question, ‘What is it the Union does?’” Edelman said. “We should be putting ourselves out there, putting the budget online and creating a very easy way that people can analyze what it is that we do and go to us for help.”

Student Union Vice President Paul Sindberg ’18, who came in second in the race for the presidency, garnered 275 votes, or 22.12 percent of votes cast. Shaquan McDowell ’18 earned 228 votes, or 18.34 percent. The abstain option got 51 votes — 4.1 percent of the total — while “other” received nine votes.

In the race for Student Union vice president, Hannah Brown ’19 walked away with 60.02 percent, or 713 votes cast.

In the debate, Brown said that the Union Senate should focus on teamwork and productivity. “By being more hands-on with senators and committee initiatives and lending my experience as a mentor — and even a manager, if needed — we will be able to accomplish great things right from the start,” she said.

Brown’s opponent, Nakeita Henry ’19, received 312 of the 1,188 votes cast, or 26.26 percent. Students cast 14 votes for “other” — one of these votes went to the late Harambe — and 149 votes for Abstain.

Lian Chen ’19 won the race for Union secretary, with 387 of the 1,160 votes cast, or 33.36 percent. While Chen’s opponent, Amy-Claire Dauphin ’19, garnered 49.31 percent, Dauphin dropped out of the race and conceded to Chen before the results were announced, according to an email to campus media members from Student Union President David Herbstritt ’17.

In her remarks at the debate, Chen stressed the importance of open communication with the student body and transparency regarding the Union Executive Board’s functions. “We have made many things happen in the E-board that people may not know how they actually happened, and people who gave some suggestions [regarding initiatives] may not go through with us for the whole process,” she said.

Emily Levine ’18, who ran unopposed from abroad, won the race for Student Union treasurer with 80.83 percent — 936 — of the 1,158 votes cast in her race.

In this election’s closest race, Christian Nunez ’19 beat Alex Feldman ’19 and Kate Kesselman ’19 for the position of junior representative to the Board of Trustees. Nunez won with 398 votes, 33.19 percent of the 1,199 cast. Feldman, the runner up, earned 370 votes, while Kesselman finished third with 351 votes.

At Tuesday’s debate, Nunez reflected on his involvement with Ford Hall 2015, which brought him into conversations with Board of Trustees members like Ron Kaiserman ’63. “Even though he was completely from somewhere else, ... we were able to come up with real, productive conversation. Instead of being protester to … higher-up, it quickly turned into pro-Brandeis with pro-Brandeis and us trying to find ways of working together,” Nunez said. “Because of my time there, I believe that I am prepared to … voice the concerns of all students, because I did it in extremely tough times, and I believe I can do it now.”

Tiana Murrieta ’19 ran unopposed and won the race for representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. Murrieta received 904 votes, or 79.72 percent of the 1,134 votes cast. Students cast 208 votes for abstain in this race, also writing in 22 votes for “other.”

Finally, in the race for representative to the Brandeis Sustainability Fund, voter turnout dropped to 761 votes in the absence of any candidates, with 443 choosing abstain and 318 writing in candidates for “other.”

Also on the ballot in this cycle of elections was an amendment to add the position of Senator for International Students to the Union Senate.

The amendment passed with above 90 percent of the vote, according to Herbstritt, despite some concerns regarding the constitutionality of the vote.