Nine parties registered for UF Student Government’s Fall elections Thursday.
Parties have until Wednesday at noon to register, said Eric Hobbs, UF’s supervisor of elections. Parties must be formed before students can begin interviewing to run with them next Thursday.
To qualify for elections, parties must either have candidates for the executive ticket or have at least six candidates for Senate, according to the 700 election codes.
Although parties registered today, Hobbs wrote in an email he still has to determine whether all parties meet the requirements.
Currently, there are two parties in SG: Access Party and Impact Party.
Access registered Thursday, said Michael Russel, the Access president. During Fall elections, he said, Access will focus on passing the online voting amendment in addition to their platform on student ideas, which has yet to be created.
“We saw what was happening over the Summer, and we saw our party still needed to exist,” Russel said.
Impact also registered and will seek student ideas for its platform, Impact president Janae Moodie wrote in an email.
“The Impact party put the online voting amendment on the ballot, and we’re excited for students to have the opportunity to decide for themselves,” she wrote in an email.
She explained that Senate President Jenny Clements (Impact, District A) sponsored all amendments to the Student Body constitution.
According to Alligator archives, Global Vote started a petition to place online voting on the ballot in the Spring 2015 election, which passed. Over the Summer, that amendment and four others were deemed unconstitutional by SG’s Supreme Court. These amendments will be voted on again in Spring.
Sept. 1: Qualifying and interviewing from noon to 6 p.m. on the third floor of the Reitz Union.
Sept. 2: Qualifying and interviewing from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sept. 6: Qualifying and interviewing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sept. 14: Absentee ballot requests close at 5 p.m.
