Students voted against a Wood Center expansion fee and sent the incumbent ASUAF president packing, the student government announced Sunday.

Sven Gilkey unseated Joe Blanchard for the ASUAF presidency during the elections held May 3 to 4. Sarah Byam was elected vice president.

The Wood Center ballot question failed by 66.2 percent of 350 total votes cast. It asked students whether they would pay a fee of up to $160 for 25 years to finance half of a $50 million expansion and renovation to the Wood Center.

The Campus Life Master Plan Committee spent $5,000 to inform students about the initiative.

“Maybe next year,” said Sen. Cody Rogers, a member of CLMP.

Gilkey won with 34.6 percent of the vote, out of 344 total votes cast. Blanchard captured only 18.8 percent, tying with Brandon Meston. Ryan Rankin pulled in 15.4 percent. Levi Ben-Isreal, who withdrew just prior to the election, had 12.2 percent.

Gilkey, 22, is a political science and history double major. He’s a member of Alpha Phi Omega and served as ASUAF organizing director this year.

Byam, 19, is an applied physics and atmospheric science major. She previously served as an ASUAF senator and vice president of the Residence Hall Association.

Blanchard told the senate he is “moving on to better things.”

“At least I feel successful,” he said. “There are many things that could have been done better, but at least I can say that next year is not my problem.”

In the two senate races, Nina Schwinghammer narrowly defeated Kayla Hill, 142 votes to 138. Mark Dallman beat Anthony Versamdi, 128 to 102.

Turnout increased slightly from spring 2005, climbing 1.2 percent to 379 voters. But it represented only about 6 percent of the eligible student population.

“It’s not bad,” said Senate Chair Pat Frymark at Sunday’s meeting. “It’s not good, but it’s not bad.”

The elections were delayed three weeks because of complications within the Elections Board and a lack of advertising.

At Sunday’s meeting, a committee tasked with revising ASUAF’s election regulations presented its initial report.

“The committee has determined that, to a large degree, the extensive leeway given to the Elections Board to manage ASUAF elections has not been productive, and usually leads to more problems than it creates,” said Sen. Henry Cole.

The committee also recommended preparing for the elections sooner.