Sixty per cent of voters solidified team JDL’s win in the first round of preferential balloting on Wednesday.

By the time the current AMS executives arrived, bearing champagne, JDL’s campaign party had reached over 80 people.

The crowd cheered out the team’s name and lifted the candidates onto a table in the main living area. They each made tearful speeches.

“I can’t even describe the feeling, it’s absolutely insane,” said incoming vice-president of operations Tristan Lee.

The voter turnout for the election was 33.78 per cent — an increase from 24.85 per cent in 2011.

Lee said he’ll be at the AMS offices at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning, ready to begin transitioning into the position.

“We’re starting tomorrow morning, right away, we’re ready to go,” he said. “I could not be more excited to head this AMS in the right direction.”

President-elect Doug Johnson said his only regret was missing out on talks with individual students during the campaign.

“We got so caught up talking to classes that we missed that,” he said. “It would’ve really benefited our campaign.”

Incoming vice-president of university affairs Mira Dineen said she couldn’t predict her reaction to the win.

“This is better than I thought it would feel,” she said. “I want to win an election every day.”

Johnson said it was difficult to gauge his team’s chances during the campaign.

“You’ve got the [supporters] that tell you … you’re going to win,” he said. “You don’t know what’s going on outside of that little bubble. We did the best we could.”

Mira Zunder, ArtSci ’14, didn’t know the team before she became a campaign volunteer.

“I’m a little bit nervous but I’m happy to be a part of it,” Zunder said before results were announced. “The second I met them I knew they were a team that would support [students].”

Team GPP’s presidential candidate Rico Garcia got a call from the AMS elections team informing him of his team’s loss.

“You get into this thing knowing there’s a possibility of losing,” he said.

Team GPP, comprised of Garcia, vice-president of operations candidate Duncan Peterson and vice-president of university affairs candidate T.K. Pritchard, agreed they have full faith in team JDL.

“I know the AMS is going to be in good hands next year,” Garcia, ArtSci ’13, said.

Peterson, ArtSci ’11, said he wasn’t surprised that students voted for team JDL.

“They had a very clear ambitious vision for what they wanted for the AMS and I think they’ll go after it with as much spunk and vitality as they can,” he said.

Peterson broke down after receiving the news while Garcia consoled the group of 50 followers at the team’s campaign party. Pritchard left the party briefly.

“My parents called me and one of my best friends just called as well,” Pritchard, ArtSci ’12, said. “I guess [students] believed that the other team would do a good job and if that’s what they think, then that’s who should be their AMS and that’s okay.”

Team RMS spent their night at Common Ground playing the board game Settlers of Catan and reminiscing about the campaign.

There were no volunteers with them, but supporters frequented the table to drop off cake and congratulate the team on a good campaign.

“I have no regrets about running, it’s been a learning experience,” presidential candidate Jeffrey McCarthy said. “I would encourage that if people want to get involved and they want to try this, they should do it.”

McCarthy, ConEd ’12, said he will apply for next year’s commissioner of internal affairs position to work on the platform points he campaigned on. Vice-president of university affairs candidate Sean Renaud, ArtSci ’15, said he plans to apply for the position of academic affairs commissioner. Bryor Snefjella, vice-presidential candidate of operations and ArtSci ’12, said he hopes to go to graduate school.

“It’s been a while since three teams have run,” McCarthy said.

The team agreed the most difficult part of the campaign was running it without volunteers.

McCarthy said they missed most of their classes during the campaign period.

“We campaigned creatively and honestly,” McCarthy said.

The team left shortly after discovering the results to congratulate team JDL.

— With files from Janina Enrile, Emily Hayes, Jordan Ray and Alison Shouldice