This semester's Student Government elections made history on Friday, and the votes haven't even been cast yet.
According to Supervisor of Elections Dan Siegel, more than 90 absentee ballots were requested, the most in SG history. Last year there were fewer than 10, he said.
Siegel credited the large spike in absentee ballot requests to the large number of parties competing in the election.
"This is the most competitive election in Student Government history with four parties," Siegel said.
Sen. Sam Miorelli said the Orange and Blue Party pushed the absentee ballot because one of its candidates, Molly Flynn, is a pharmacy student at Jacksonville's satellite UF campus.
Flynn campaigned to get students to request absentee ballots at satellite campuses in Jacksonville and Orlando, which made up the majority of ballot requests.
Joshua Simmons, the Progress Party president, said his party provided absentee forms at their table on the Plaza of the Americas all last week.
Although the Keg Party did not add to absentee ballot increase, Frank Bracco, its president, said absentee ballots are a great way to get more people involved in student government.
Jordan Johnson, the Unite Party's candidate for Student Body president, said it is great to see more students taking interest in Student Government. The Unite Party members also had absentee ballot request forms available when they were campaigning, he said.
"I'm glad students know their resources are available to them," Johnson said. "The goal is to make voter accessibility available to all students, especially those not on the UF campus every day."
