All but one seat in the UF Student Senate will be represented by the Swamp Party.
While the unopposed Swamp Party swept up 49 seats in the Fall 2014 Student Government elections, independent candidate Preston Jones defeated Swamp Party candidate Rachael Laky for the sole Hume area seat with 61.2 percent of the vote. Jones pulled in 175 votes, and Laky raked in 108.
A fatigued Jones, sunburnt from campaigning outside Hume Hall, was relieved.
“I’m so thankful to the people of Hume and students of Hume who chose me as their senator,” the 18-year-old UF civil engineering freshman said. “I am so excited to be able to work to make the Hume area a better place.”
Although defeated, Laky may campaign again.
“Of course I’m disappointed, but of course no regrets at all,” the accounting freshman said.
UF Supervisor of Elections Hans Rojas released the results Tuesday night without much fanfare; instead of a grand announcement on a stage outside of the Reitz Union like past elections, Rojas decided to hand out paper copies of the results on the third floor of the Reitz Union at 9:30 p.m. to save money.
These elections saw the lowest turnout in recent history of 6,733 ballots, with 2,052 of those ballots cast on Wednesday. Spring 2014’s election yielded 7,919 ballots, which fell behind Fall 2013’s turnout of 8,766 ballots, according to Alligator archives.
“I’m very pleased with the voter turnout and the elections overall,” Rojas said.
Swamp Party stole the Spring 2014 elections, winning both the executive ticket and all 50 Senate seats based on classification and college major.
“We’re really appreciative of the students who voted and put in their input,” said Swamp Party spokeswoman Katie Backstrand. “We’re looking forward to work on our platform goals.”
The Swamp Party also dominated all seven of District B’s seats, where independent candidate Evan Morris campaigned.
The seven winners each had vote totals ranging from 673 to 636, while 134 votes — 2.7 percent — were tallied for Morris.
Even though Morris lost, he said he was happy an independent candidate won at least one seat.
“I think it opened my eyes to how the politics on this campus work,” the 20-year-old UF marketing junior said. “I definitely want to encourage other students to challenge the system that they see around them.”
While no registered candidate campaigned for District E, which represents students living outside of Alachua County, 11 write-in ballots were cast for the Swamp Party, and therefore the party won the seat, Rojas said.
The UF Elections Commission will determine the next steps for District E, Rojas said.
Independent candidate for Hume area and UF civil engineering freshman Preston Jones, 18, is congratulated by Swamp Party President Ricky Salabarria after winning the Senate seat Wednesday night.
