Sean Smith anxiously awaited the Black Affairs Council election results Monday night, but once ballots were tallied he was declared the new BAC coordinator by an overwhelming margin.

The 574 ballots cast were counted by the election committee by 8:45 p.m. after the polls closed about three hours earlier, and the new BAC executive officers for the 1998-99 school year were made official after a hectic week of campaigning.

The Experienced Party won all three elected BAC positions. Along with Smith, Assistant Coordinator-elect Romante Archer and Comptroller-elect James Morris will take office at the end of the semester.

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Smith received 285 votes, while Archer and Morris received 288 and 196 votes respectively. The Forty Acres and a Mule party came in second, with Joshua Polite receiving 136 votes for coordinator, Landon Williams receiving 127 votes for assistant coordinator, and Malik Freeman receiving 163 votes for comptroller. The Operations Arise party placed third, with Enoch Muhammad receiving 74 votes for coordinator and Yvette Johnson receiving 76 votes for assistant coordinator.

Smith, BAC coordinator-elect, was so overwhelmed that he could not find the words to describe his gratification for his new position.

Aw man, right now, my mind is just blank, Smith, a sophomore in administration of justice from Abilene, Texas, said. All that hard work paid off.

I have a lot of time from here and then to prepare for the position. I know the ’98-99 school year will be very hectic.

Smith said his dedication during the campaign is a reflection of his continuous involvement in BAC, which led to his victory. This year Smith is part of BAC’s Campus and Community Affairs Committee. He said he will remain committed to that role as well as prepare for his position as coordinator. He already has ideas for the upcoming school year.

I’m just going to relax and finish out my Campus and Community Affairs role and then step into the coordinator position, he said.

I’m ready to work with the new chancellor on getting a cultural center, more social outlets, tenured African-American faculty the list goes on.

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Archer, a junior in radio and television from Maywood and captain of the SIUC track team, plans to work hand in hand with the current BAC administration and provide new ideas such as more educational programs.

I plan to work closely with the administration, he said. I also plan to bring new programs toward student issues to enhance BAC. With anything, everything needs improvement, and with the new administration we can bring new ideas to the table.

Malik Freeman, a first-year graduate student from Buffalo, NY, will not be able to express the ideas he had for BAC. But although Freeman said the elections should have been handled differently, he said the outcome is not as agonizing as it may seem.

The election committee was unprofessional at times. They were rude, he said. I noticed some bias toward the other (besides the Experienced Party) candidates. They ran out of ballots at one point. It was a hostile environment.

From the beginning to the end it was real intense like we were intruding on something. Not to be whining and crying, but it’s the truth. But, I’m willing to do workshops with BAC, which I’ve done in the past. Anything I can help with I will.

Naaman Harper, current BAC assistant coordinator, said the positions for the next year are filled with people who will get the job done effectively and efficiently. He said during their time as BAC executives, the most important issues, including the task force, should be addressed at all times. The task force is a team effort spearheaded by BAC to present the concerns of African-American students to the administration for possible solutions.

These are the people that have been putting their time into the organization this year, Harper said. Hopefully their hard work and diligence will carry over next year. We’ve been preparing them all year long.

First and most important is the task force. I will also like to see the participation of more students.

As he absorbs the fact that he will be a leader for African-American students, Smith realizes that he cannot complete a task alone. He said it will take the entire African-American population to make BAC stronger, including his opponents during the election.

I take nothing from my competition, Smith said. They worked hard, and they made me work hard. And I will like to work with them.

The whole Experienced Party, I love them. We worked together so long for this campaign I know we’ll make it through next year. We have three young, black men ready to work hard.