Of the 5,200 votes cast for CAA president, Reid Chaney received 2,585, while Michael Songer received 2,453. The race will be decided in next Tuesday's runoff election.
And though Chaney said he was surprised that a runoff would be necessary, Songer said he was not.
"We expected it to be a very close election, and in a lot of ways we weren't surprised it was a runoff," Songer said.
Chaney said the 162 write-in votes affected the race's outcome, but Songer said he felt negative campaigning had impacted votes.
Songer also said this negativity was reflected by an e-mail former Carolina Fever President Davin McGinnis sent out late Monday night that questioned Songer's honesty and endorsed Chaney for CAA president.
Songer was dismissed two weeks ago from the CAA Cabinet due to internal tensions within the organization's leadership. "(The e-mail) was entirely negative toward me," Songer said. "Since it was sent out the night before, we had no chance to reply."
Chaney said he became aware of the e-mail today and that his campaign was not responsible for it. But Bryan Hart, the former CAA vice president who resigned last week to join Chaney's campaign, said the e-mail suggested strong support for Chaney. "If (McGinnis) felt the need to send that e-mail out to a lot of people, it strongly indicates that Reid's the guy for the job," Hart said. "He's someone else on the inside saying Reid's the guy."
The race for CAA president has been characterized by opposing views on the role of Fever and plagued by what has become the race's subtext -- internal strain within the CAA Cabinet.
Songer's platform proposed eliminating the 169 seats in the Carolina Fever block in the Smith Center, while Chaney's platform supported maintaining the block. And Songer said the strife within the CAA will affect the organization next year, regardless of the runoff's outcome. "It's really unfortunate that the top officials in the CAA have taken sides."
