An Uphill Battle in SG

Nine years ago, the University of Florida’s “independent” movement within SG, flying under the SUN banner, won an unprecedented 13 seats out of 40, exclusively through wins in District C and D. Just a year ago, the successors to that movement, in the Orange and Blue party, won an equally impressive victory, owed in large part due to record high turnout and widespread support from the on-camus dormitories.

These are, sadly, outlier outcomes in Student Government at UF. Fall elections are spectacularly one-sided, with the “independents” averaging just 31% of the popular vote since 1997. And you get to 31% only if you ignore the two years when FBK had no opposition whatsoever.

This year, the indie split between O&B and Progress that cost both sides scores of Senate seats in the Spring seems set to recur in the Fall. Unless one side or the other fails to put up a full slate, we can fully expect a FBK-backed Unite sweep of most of Senate in this semester’s elections.

One can debate the GDI cred of one side of the dispute over the whole (although Progress has allowed a Unite-Lite meme to develop regarding their performance since the Spring elections). But the truth is, it doesn’t matter which side is “more” independent. As long as they can’t get along, Unite wins.

The folks in the good offices on the 3rd Floor must be smiling.