Editor's Note: Twelve members of the Gator Party ran unopposed in the spring Student Government election, and more than 8,000 students cast ballots in the two days of SG voting.
The dominance continues.
The incumbent Gator Party triumphed over the Orange and Blue Party in UF's Student Government spring elections, taking about 60 percent of the vote.
Sarah Krantz, SG's supervisor of elections, announced at almost 1 a.m. Thursday that the Gator Party won the executive branch - with Kevin Reilly as Student Body president, Yooni Yi as vice president and Paul Drayton as treasurer.
The Gator Party took 33 of 47 open Student Senate seats. The Orange and Blue Party snagged 10 seats.
There were ties for two Senate seats for the College of Engineering, and the winners will be announced today after a hand count. The nursing and veterinary medicine colleges did not have candidates on the ballot.
One Orange and Blue candidate and one Gator candidate ran unopposed, and both won by default.
The total vote for the two days was higher than for most SG spring elections, Krantz said.
More than 8,000 students voted Wednesday and a little more than 4,100 students voted Tuesday, bringing the total count to about 1,000 more than the roughly 7,600 votes cast during the 2007 spring election. More than 10,000 votes were cast in the 2006 spring election.
Students denied the referendum question that asked if UF should officially denounce the U.S. occupation of Iraq. But they approved the one that aimed to create a committee to advise the Board of Trustees, UF's highest governing body, on socially responsible investing of UF's $1 billion-plus endowment.
About 60 percent of voters approved an amendment to reduce the range of Student Senate seats each semester to 40 to 50 instead of up to 60.
The results could hardly be heard over cheering Gator Party members.
As cigar smoke filled the air, Reilly, who was Student Senate president in the fall, said he felt ecstatic and would start working on every platform point.
"I told you from day one," Reilly said while taking a break from hugs. "We're going to start everything from day one."
Hugs and high-fives among Gator Party supporters were non-stop for several minutes after the announcement.
But it was a different story for the recently defeated Orange and Blue members, who exchanged only hugs of commiseration.
"It's a little pretentious if you ask me," said Frank Bracco, Orange and Blue's vice presidential candidate, of his opponents' cigars. "They smell funny. They turn people off."
Other Orange and Blue Party members stood nearby celebrating their senate seat wins.
Tommy Jardon, Orange and Blue's presidential candidate, said his party won more seats than expected, and hopes their presence will "speak truth to power."
"I think we did great, I'm really happy for senate candidates that won," Jardon said.
Gator spent more than $11,000 on campaigning, and Orange and Blue spent almost $4,000.
None of the three independent candidates running for senate seats spent any money. None won.
Sam Miorelli, Orange and Blue Party president, said there may be different faces leading SG, but students will only see more of the same.
"More money down the tubes, more legacy positions, more incompetence in cabinet," Miorelli said. "Another year of SG doing nothing."
Krantz said there were no problems with voting.
However, 27 complaints were filed on Monday and Tuesday - all from the Gator Party against the Orange and Blue Party.
SG public records state most were repeated complaints about a "paid political advertisement" phrase missing from Orange and Blue's signs or that they campaigned within 50 feet from polling booths, both illegal under SG rules.
Ryan Day, SG deputy chief of staff and Gator Party volunteer, filed each complaint and said he filed seven more on Wednesday.
Day said the repeated violations suggest it was a "calculated move" by Orange and Blue.
Krantz said it was an unusually large number of complaints. If any party were found guilty of violating SG statutes, the commission would implement appropriate penalties, which range from a fine to election disqualification, Krantz said.
"It's undeniably, unquestionably false," Miorelli said of Day's complaints. "Either Ryan Day has poor vision, or I don't know."
Mark McShera, Orange and Blue Party chairman, said the party wasn't worried about the "frivolous" complaints.
"We're completely confident that the Election Commission will see this for the shameless ploy that it is by the Gator Party trying to salvage the wreckage of their flagging campaign," McShera said before the election results were announced.
Miorelli said Orange and Blue filed six of its own complaints, including that Gator bribed voters with doughnuts, left campaign materials unattended and campaigned on RTS busses.
Krantz said the newly elected senators would be certified by the election commission and sworn in at the Student Senate's Tuesday meeting. Ryan Moseley, current Student Body president, said before the results were announced that UF would be in good hands with the Gator Party.
"This is probably one of the most experienced tickets in a long time," Moseley said.
