Fall Student Government elections are less than two weeks away, but several registered parties have declined to take part.
Keg, Impact, Socialist and Inspire Party did not slate any new candidates for elections Sept. 28 and 29. Their social media accounts remained dormant and presidents unresponsive, except for registered Socialist Party president Piper Penney, who denied her party’s existence altogether.
Change, Communist and Gator Party slated 58, 17 and 161 students respectively, according to totals provided by SG Supervisor of Elections Alexandra Stedman.
A final list of candidates included three independents running for a seat in Senate. However, totals provided by Stedman reported that only one independent candidate, who later dropped from the running for unknown reasons, registered to participate in this election.
Students interested in running for one of 50 Senate seats up for grabs this election registered with parties Sept. 2, 3 and 7.
So far, only Communist Party has announced its platform, which includes plans to host seminars on critical race theory, use emergency reserves to provide a universal stipend to students during the COVID-19 pandemic and establish an affordable housing trust with SG funds. The party has not released its candidates.
Change Party plans to likely release its platform next week, Change president Zoe Terner, said. The party released a list of 35 candidates running for seats in the Senate on Instagram.
Willmar Escalante, the registered president of Inspire Party, is slated to run with Change Party for District A according to an Instagram post.
Gator Party has yet to release its candidates or platform.
“We look forward to releasing our platform soon,” Gator Party campaign manager Noah Fineberg wrote. “We’re engaging in conversations with students to hear about their ideas to improve our campus.”
Allessandra is a third-year journalism major with a minor in English. In the past, she has covered local musicians and the cannabis industry. She is now the Student Government reporter for The Alligator. Allessandra paints and plays guitar in her free time.
