With 5,936 votes, the turnout for this semester's University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) elections was higher than the past three election totals and 3,334 votes more than last fall's election.

Of all eligible students, 18.6 percent voted.

Hillary Lewis and running mate Frank Keller won the vote with 1,481 votes, while Gavin Keirans and running mate Mike Wallace came in second with 1,357 votes.

Shawn Gordon, election commissioner, said he was impressed that students voted despite it only being UPUA's second election and the rainy weather, which also hindered the candidates' campaigns.

"Voter turnout was extremely successful this year," he said.

Gordon said the turnout was a testament to the students caring about the university's student government.

"To be able to come back from the low [turnout] shows the ability of what students can do who want to have a say," he said.

Keirans said the high voter turnout was because of students fighting apathy. He attributed the

increase of voters from last semester to the qualified candidates who ran.

"I wouldn't have gotten second place without an army of supporters," Keirans said.

Chris Lenn, vice presidential candidate for Peter Johnson, said the enthusiasm of the candidates from so many different groups helped increase the turnout.

"I had doubts, but so many candidates made the turnout bigger," Lenn said.

Lewis said the turnout was a lot better than the first UPUA elections held last fall.

Last year it was hard to get people to vote in the UPUA elections because it was its first semester in existence, Keller said.

"Getting people to vote for something they are unsure about is difficult," he said.

Election commissioner Frank Criscione said breaking the 10,000-voter mark next year is very possible.

Criscione also said this election is another step toward asserting UPUA's role as a viable student government at Penn State and in the Association of Big Ten Schools (ABTS), which has refused to recognize UPUA as Penn State's official student government.

"Knowing students will have a larger role means student apathy is not what we thought it was," he said. "I hope the president and vice president take UPUA to the ABTS and that it does deserve to be a part of ABTS."

The recent revision of the constitution was the first step in legitimizing UPUA, Criscione said.

"The foundation's set," Criscione said. "Now let's see what UPUA can do."

Collegian staff writer Billy Wellock contributed to this article.