Updated March 29: Spinnaker originally published that language involving diversity, equity and inclusion was removed from the Student Government Constitution. It has since been updated to specify that seats for the Student Alliance for Inclusion and Diversity have been replaced with Representatives of External On-Campus Student Organizations.
The unofficial results from the University of North Florida’s spring 2024 Student Government election are in after voting closed Wednesday afternoon.
Michael Barcal of the Soar Party won the uncontested presidential election, and Soar Party members also won all 20 open Senate seats. The constitutional revisions were also approved in a landslide vote.
The Senate must officiate these unofficial results before the winners are sworn in.
The Soar Party won 18 of the 20 open Senate seats in last semester’s election, meaning it now controls 38 of the 40 total seats.
Barcal and his vice president, Ashlyn Davidson, claimed the executive branch without competition. According to SG’s website, Barcal is the vice president of health and safety for Theta Chi and will step up to the presidency after serving as treasurer for the current Grosso-Sullivan administration. Davidson is the current director of the Osprey Involvement Center.
Of the 28 Senate candidates, 20 were from the Soar Party, six were from the Unity Party and two were independent. Tommy Mazzella won the most votes, with 401. Below is a full list of unofficial Senate winners provided by the SG supervisor of elections:
- Tommy Mazzella
- Catherine Crump
- Vevvy Summerall
- Sophie Carollo
- Jose Castaneda
- Emmanuella Alix
- Jessica Till
- Kaelin Killalea
- Laura Zeqollari
- Isabella West
- Hazel Joseph
- Easton Crain
- Zachary Quinn
- Simon Mudd
- Alex Goodman
- Matthew Byrd
- Brendan Paden
- Nate Schneider
- Charley Turnbull
- Venia Cadet
Lastly, changes to the constitution were approved by a landslide, with 880 votes for and 31 against. These changes included a new Florida Sunshine Law compliance article and the removal of ex-officio seats for the Student Alliance for Inclusion and Diversity, replacing them with Representatives of External On-Campus Student Organizations.
SG Chief of Staff Mitchell Aarons said this was to “expand the scope of what organizations can be recognized as [ex-officio] members and leaves it to the discretion of the Senate President.” He said SAID never used its allocated seats, so this change was made to allow other diversity groups to become members.
According to SG’s website, these results will be certified during the Senate meeting at 1 p.m. on April 12.
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