After a special election, the St. Edward’s University Student Government Association has a new vice president, filling the seat that was vacant for three weeks.

Junior Noah Corn, former senator of the school of Humanities, won the position after taking 54 percent of the vote. Junior Vianney Becerra, chief justice of the Student Court of Appeals, finished with 46 percent of the vote.

But the eight-point victory was a difference of just 16 votes of the 196 votes cast in the week-long special election held on Collegiate Link– Corn finished with 106 votes compared to Becerra’s 90 votes.

Both candidates spent about one-fourth of the money allotted to vice presidential candidates for campaigning purposes. Corn and Becerra spent $135.91 and $124.87 on their campaigns, respectively. Candidates for vice president are allowed to spend up to $500.

Marisa Lacey, the SGA faculty advisor, said she was pleased with the number of students who voted, given that this unexpected election took place in the middle of the school year.

The special election, which ended Nov. 18 at 5 p.m., when the candidates were notified of the results, happened because junior Blanca Garcia resigned as president of SGA and senior Krista Heiden, who had previously been vice president, was sworn in as president. One of the functions of the vice president’s job is to preside over senate meetings – something that Corn has been doing in his position as president pro tempore in the absence of a vice president.

Becerra said that she was happy for Corn and that she will remain in her current position.

Now that the vice president’s chair is once again filled, Corn said, SGA can move forward.

“After a time of trying to find our feet with this new structure, we may now begin to realize our potential as a collective body,” Corn said.

Corn was referring to SGA’s structural changes, made last spring. A bill written by Senator Zachary Peal removed the three vice presidential positions that the organization had in favor of just one.

The Nov. 18 senate meeting that formally inducted Corn into the vice presidency also filled another vacancy when the senators confirmed Leigh Anne Winger as senator of the sophomore class. She is replacing former senator Andrew Guerrero, who resigned Oct. 28, the same day that Garcia did. Guerrero resigned to focus on other activities.

Winger ran for a senate position in the fall elections but lost. She recently attempted to recall Heiden due to concerns over constitutional eligibility but dropped her efforts after meeting with Lacey.