When a new minority party emerged this election season, students were hyped.
For the first time since Fall 2014, Swamp Party has competition. That semester, Swamp was the only registered party on the ballot.
But the students who ran in the last party that opposed Swamp said they are suspicious about intentions and cautious with their enthusiasm.
Access Party is the not the first minority party to face a majority party. Three years ago another minority party, Students Party, almost won against the majority at the time, Unite Party, but lost by 114 votes. The Students Party eventually dissolved and left UF’s Student Body with a one-party system.
For members of the former Students Party, the feelings are divided. Some showed reserved interest in Access, and others dove right into the campaign.
Two former members of Students Party, Michael Christ and Ford Dwyer, are running Access Party’s campaign. Christ went from Students Party senator to Access Party campaign manager. Dwyer is the former president of Students Party and now is Access’ treasurer.
Dwyer said some students are wary of the new party because of the executive ticket’s former affiliation with Swamp. Those worries might be unfounded, though, because he said Students Party was formed with former members of Unite Party.
Students Party founder, Carly Wilson, was actually a former Unite senator.
Wilson, now a third-year UF law student, said Access benefits students by giving them a choice.
“It’s good to have competition in a political system like this because if you have only one party in power, you run the risk of that party becoming complacent because they won’t feel a need to be responsive to the voters,” she said.
Former Students Party President Daniella Saetta, a 23-year-old first-year UF engineering graduate student, said she is wary of the new party because of the executive ticket’s background in Swamp.
Saetta said most of Access Party’s platform is similar to Students Party platform, like making SG more open to students.
“I want to challenge them to be that great,” she said. “I want them to be a clear-cut opposition against the Swamp Party.”
Independent UF Student Sen. Preston Jones supports Access. Sen. Jones was one of two independents who ran in the Fall 2014 elections against Swamp. He took the Hume seat while Swamp took the remaining 49 seats.
“I think that Access Party will prove to be a true voice of transparency and accountability in Student Government,” he said.
Elections are Tuesday and Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
[A version of this story ran on page 11 on 2/20/2015 under the headline “Minority party option raises concern, excitement this SG election season"]
