At 9 p.m. Tuesday night, voting for SGA elections closed.
By 9:45, the members of the elections board had finished hearing a campaign violation and were signing the results, somewhat shocked that this year there would be no run-off.
Inside Cater Hall, 15 minutes later, assistant vice president for political affairs Scott Seitz read the results of the elections to the small group of SGA members and advisers before walking out on the porch.
The insiders reflected on the hectic campaign season and lined up to walk out and face the waiting crowd.
After reading the results of other elections, Scott Seitz, from the railing of Cater porch said, "with 42 percent of the vote, the next SGA president is Kirby Turnage."
A roar of applause and screams erupted from the Turnage camp that had gathered on the left side of the lawn. Meanwhile, supporters of the losing candidates held faces ranging from total dejection to solemn acceptance.
"It feels amazing," Turnage said, after hearing his name called. "My top five, my campaign manager, my friends, my fraternity, you know what, Auburn University students helped me get here."
Months of hard work paid off for Turnage's team, and another year of hard work is about to begin.
"It's exciting to see four and a half, five months of work come to an end," Turnage said. "It's all about to start tomorrow."
Outgoing SGA president Kurt Sasser watched from the sidelines as his successor celebrated just as he had done one year before.
"It's a little bittersweet, but I'm proud of him, and he's going to do a great job for Auburn University," Sasser said. "I'm truly proud of not only Kirby, but Kel and Trevor\0xAD--each one of the candidates held their heads high, they ran a very clean election."
Runner-up Kel Jackson fell short of Turnage's numbers with 32 percent of the vote, a total of 2,184 votes.
"Obviously I'm disappointed," Jackson said. "I'm extremely proud of my team. I figure we ran a fantastic race."
Trevor Ramsey came in third with 1,733 votes, tallying 26 percent of the vote.
"This has been an absolute honor," Ramsey said. "There is nothing to describe how strongly I still feel about Auburn University."
The voter turnout was slightly less than last year, with 30 percent of the student body participating in the elections.
Thirty percent is relatively high among public universities in the United States.
"We changed up the election week, we went over the weekend and voted on Tuesday," Turnage said. "All in all, 30 percent is still very high when you rank it against other institutions."
Kurt Sasser will keep the position until March 6, when Turnage will officially be able to print his business cards with the title SGA president beside his name.
"I just wanted to bring and present to Auburn University students how I can make this University better for next year," Turnage said. "I'm excited to get started tomorrow."
Turnage's platform included positions to increase the availability of dining on campus, implement a system for student feedback to SGA, create an online student ticket exchange, as well as developing an Auburn University app for smart phones.
"When I sat down to write my platform, I targeted it toward students," Turnage said. "Things that I've seen in the past three years that are OK and that need to be better and that don't yet exist for students."
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