UF Student Government’s five off-campus voting districts will be treated as a single 37-seat district this Fall.
District D has historically supported Change Party candidates for its 12 senate seats. It will now be combined with Districts A, B, and E, which have historically leaned in favor of Vision Party, as well as District C which has tended to swing between parties.
The 37-seat model was previously applied during the Fall 2023 election as an emergency measure under order of the UF Supreme Court as the Senate had not yet agreed upon an off-campus map. The election saw Vision Party candidates win all 37 off-campus senate seats.
The SG Senate passed the Fall 2024 Senate Reappointment Act last Spring to alter the election map in accordance with the Student Body Constitution, which orders yearly reappointment, permanently enshrining the 37-seat off-campus model.
Judiciary Chair Aaron Rubaii (Vision-Off-Campus), the legislation’s author, did not respond to requests for comment.
The 55 current and former Vision senators who voted for the map did not respond to requests for comment.
One of the new map’s main opponents, Sen. Austin Britton (Change-Graduate), a 26-year-old UF geography doctoral student, said at-large voting districts go against fair election practices.
Historically, at-large voting has been struck down in U.S. courts due to concerns over gerrymandering and violations of the 1965 Voter Rights Act.
“There is a lot of room for disenfranchisement of students,” Britton said. “With an at-large map in general, a lot of it is tied to discrimination // It was quickly outlawed at a federal level because they realized it was not a good way [to draw district maps].”
In response to the at-large map, Britton, who earned a master’s degree in geo-data science, proposed a number of alternative map models using student location data.
Ultimately, however, the Vision Caucus struck down his proposals. According to Britton, Chairman Rubaii cited concerns that, under a district model, students might vote multiple times in different districts, an argument Britton said was wrong given students must present their IDs if they wish to vote.
“They were turned against any proposal that wasn’t theirs,” Britton said. “So they keep an at-large model, which benefits them to get 37 seats.”
The Supervisor of Elections, Lexi Sederopoulos, did not respond to requests for comment on the apportionment map’s legal soundness.
The Student Body Statutes establishes that proper apportionment maps should be made “with assistance from the Supervisor of Elections” who is appointed by the Student Body President to act as a non-partisan official. Supervisor Sederopoulos is an appointee of Student Body President John Brinkman.
During a Student Body Supreme Court hearing last Friday, the court’s five justices unanimously dismissed a petition to rule on the election map’s constitutionality. The justices reached their decision within the first three minutes of discussion.
The court cited a lack of jurisdiction to act “as a sounding board for whether or not any scenario or circumstance or potential action proposed by a petitioner is or is not constitutional.”
The SG Constitution states the Supreme Court “shall interpret any provision of the constitution or any law” if petitioned by twenty members of the Student Body or requested by the Student Body President. Under the Court’s argument, “interpret” does not encompass rulings on the legislation’s constitutionality.
Moreover, the court argued the case had “a lack of standing because of no injury [and] no traceability.”
In the legal world, injury refers to the idea that petitioners have personally suffered some form of harm due to actions which can be traced directly back to the defendant, which is called traceability.
Alex Peterson, a 19-year-old UF history sophomore, shared his concerns with an at-large model’s ability to provide students with representatives who understand their concerns.
“In this at-large model, there’s no guarantee that elected representatives will share specific concerns of different off-campus areas,” he said. “Somebody living at Midtown is probably going to face different daily challenges compared to someone living southwest of campus.”
He said the previous district model localized representation fairly among residence halls and off-campus housing alike. When considering the effects of the current map model, Peterson was concerned about the outcome of at-large voting in the event of either a Change or Vision victory.
“There is one party that’s going to come out and win 37 seats, and the truth is that it’s going to leave thousands of voters that are not going to have the proper representation they voted for,” he said.
Lauren Carlson, a 20-year-old UF marketing junior who previously ran for senate, said, “the current election map, objectively, is not fair for a lot of people, specifically those in District D.”
Carlson said those who live farther off-campus will be disenfranchised by the combination of districts due to their incorporation with off-campus Greek life areas that often see large turnout numbers.
With the map change, Carlson said she expects “quite a bit of conflict” between Vision and Change during the election season.
“I understand why it would be really frustrating to see the rules constantly manipulated and twisted in favor of Vision Party due to its strong historical ties to the Supreme Court,” she said. “Whenever the regulating body is aligned with the people they’re supposed to regulate, that’s a large conflict of interest.”
Several of the Supreme Court’s current justices are Brinkman appointees, though they are constitutionally expected to act as non-partisans.
Previous court rulings have garnered accusations of bias, such as a Spring 2023 injunction the court ordered against the gridlocked Senate, which suspended Senate operations until Change caucus and then-Gator caucus leadership could strike a deal on Senate leadership positions. Despite winning more seats than Gator Party during the Spring 2023 election, the need to strike a compromise limited Change’s power in the senate.
In the end, Carlson said she hopes for high voter turnout so the Student Body can decide control of the Senate and hold parties accountable.
“We can unify together against what is an unfair districting map,” Carlson said. “As a District A voter, I’m hoping my vote is a small drop in the pool of the tidal wave I hope is going to come.”
Contact Avery Parker at aparker@alligator.org. Follow him on X @AveryParke98398.
Avery Parker is a third-year English and History major covering university affairs for The Alligator. Outside of reporting, Avery spends his time doting on his cats, reading, and listening to music by the Manwolves.
