With new senators installed and the Unite Party maintaining the majority of the Student Senate, leaders of both minority parties have said their work for the semester is just beginning.
Progress Party President Dave Schneider said his party will fight for its platform while it evaluates the results of the fall election.
"We're going to continue meeting with student groups, getting them to come into the Senate to express their concerns, and struggle alongside them to make sure that our legislative agenda is completely in touch with the students' will," said Schneider, a founding member of the Progress Party.
Orange and Blue Party Sen. Jonathan Ossip said his party will be persistent in pushing important issues in the Senate, regardless of it holding only two seats.
"The Orange and Blue Party will continue to be the most active party in the Senate, bringing key legislation to reform Student Government and fighting for student rights," said Ossip, who was re-elected to represent the Murphree Area.
The Orange and Blue Party is fighting for issues regarding budget reforms and open access to SG records, Ossip said.
This fall, the Orange and Blue Party walked away with the Murphree Area and Keys Residential Complex seats.
The Progress Party earned one seat, representing family housing, in the Student Senate but failed to maintain the seat representing Rawlings Hall.
Both minority parties agree that their losses were casualties of low voter turnout.
"Low turnout means that a small elite gets to determine the entire course of action without input from the majority," Schneider said. "There's power in the eight out of 10 students who don't consider Student Government worth their time, and, by reaching out to them through our legislative agenda, we want to channel that."
SG Supervisor of Elections Ariana Alfonso announced after the election that 8,483 students voted this fall, about 2,000 students less than last fall's election.
Ossip said the three-party election contributed to the low turnout.
"Many people were confused about the difference between Orange and Blue and Progress, which is limited, and instead chose not to vote at all," he said.
Since the Progress Party's conception in early spring, one of the issues it has attempted to address, and will continue to address through grassroots campaigns, has been student participation.
"A system cannot be democratic if the student masses don't participate in the process," Schneider said.
The Progress Party will use this recent decline in turnout as another reason to campaign for online voting, said Nick Mildebrath, the party's campaign manager.
Both parties are already planning for next spring's election, when seats representing UF's undergraduate and graduate colleges will be up for grabs.
"I promised our candidates the night of the election that we would be the ones cheering on the night of the spring election," Schneider said. "I see every reason for this to happen."
