Despite a lack of candidates declaring their intention to run, all 11 seats on the student government’s legislative branch were filled in yesterday’s election.

Only 473 students voted in the election, representing about 7.6% of the total undergraduate body and a smaller turnout than the election commissioners had wanted.

The 11 open seats were divided across the five schools, however only six of them were contested by candidates on the ballot; the remaining candidates were write-ins.

“Write-in candidates get selected in the same way as those on the ballots-whichever candidate gets the most votes,” said Carson Smith, acting speaker of the senate. “When its such a small number of votes there is always a question whether it was just he and his friend voting or if he really wants the position.”

The five write-in candidates awarded seats in the election were the top vote-getters in their school.

Prior to the election, the lone seat in the schools of architecture and art was uncontested in addition to one of two seats in the business school and two of the six arts and sciences seats.

“The problem with Senate elections is that they happen so late in the semester,” said SU President Neil Patel. “By that time many people have already committed to other groups so sometimes it’s hard to find people to run.”

Six students declared their intention to run in the election by the filling deadline in October, one more than in previous fall elections.

In the election that began on Wednesday night and continued until Thursday evening, candidates were running for half of the body’s seats; the other half will be elected during an election during spring semester.

In previous elections this semester turnout has been strong with almost 50 percent of the freshman class voting in class council elections and over 1,000 students voting in the special constitutional election.

According to election commissioner Jason Short, the spring election is usually larger than the fall election.

“People just have a better idea of the internal workings of SU,” said Short, a junior. “It’s more toward the end of the year so they can predict better what kind of work they’ll have in the upcoming year.”

The newly elected senators will be sworn in next Wednesday for yearlong terms at the first senate meeting of the new term.

According to Patel, the fact that senate terms last a full year forces all candidates to be in their junior year or below-a reality that encourages underclassmen to get involved.

Many of the candidates, both in this election and in others have taken part in the SU pre-orientation program.

“The entire freshman class council is from the pre-[orientation],” said Patel. “It helps guide you through the organization and it helps you know what position you want to run for during your freshman year.”

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