For the second year in a row, the results of the Northern Iowan Student Government (NISG) presidential election were something of a foregone conclusion.

Following the withdrawal last Friday of opposing ticket Butt and Hussain, Samantha Bennett and Alisanne Struck ran unopposed for the presidential and vice presidential positions, respectively. They followed in the footsteps of last year’s ticket, Elle Boeding and Rachel Greene, who also ran unopposed.

Like Boeding and Greene, Bennett and Struck weren’t exactly surprised by the election results, which were announced by the NISG election commission in Maucker Union at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24.

However, it was nonetheless an exciting moment for the two friends when their victory was made official.

“Even though we knew the results, it still hadn’t sunk in,” Bennett said after the announcement. “Before, it was kind of an abstract idea that we’ll have these roles. Now it’s finite (and) we know. I’m just really excited.”

Struck thanked the various members of their campaign team, including fellow students Kendall Doerr, Max Tensen, Hailey Hirsch and Luigi Lopez, for their work.

“I’m really proud of our campaign. I just think we ran a really solid, classy campaign,” she said. “My gratitude goes to Sam, obviously, and to our team and to every student who has voted for us and supported us. It just means a lot to know that people have our back, because we hope to have theirs in every way possible.”

Also announced on Wednesday evening were the winners of Senate seats from the various colleges.

From the College of Business, Sam Ferguson was elected, with three seats left open. Senator-elects from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (CSBS) were Rocio Castrejon, Sam Caughron, Caroline Christensen and Nawal Rai. In the College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences (CHAS), Salima Diallo, Jonah Eldridge, Micaiah Krutsinger, Muhammad Raza and Turner Sperry were elected, with one seat left open.

The College of Education currently has four open seats, the Graduate College has three and the Other/Interdisciplinary College has two.

Bennett said she, Struck and their team are ready to “do the legwork” necessary to fill the many open positions. They plan to reach out to various campus organizations to promote the opportunities NISG offers.

“We want to be approachable and accessible to students,” she said.