Almost 19 percent of Pitt’s student body voted in last night’s SGB election, picking eight… Almost 19 percent of Pitt’s student body voted in last night’s SGB election, picking eight Board members and a new President who will have authority over more than $2 million from the Student Activities Fund.

This year’s election saw a 6 percent increase in turnout over last year — with more than 3,000 undergraduates voting on the my.pitt.edu portal. Students had until 8 p.m. to pick five candidates for Board and one for president.

Results came in by 8:22 p.m., much to the relief of the almost 20 candidates who had gathered in Nordy’s Place to hear Elections Committee chairwoman Lena Wickenden announce the results. Many of them had been campaigning since this morning.

Presidential candidate Molly Stieber won with 1,451 votes, followed by Matt Weiss with 1,184, followed by Ben Vaccaro with 346.

Matthew Riehle, Lauren Jentleson, John Hasley, Alex Zimmerman, James Landrenau, Emily Hoover, Ryan Gayman and Zach Weber will serve on the 2010-11 Board.