New senators will soon be sworn in to the University of North Florida’s student government legislature even with Fall 2025 voting being cancelled due to an uncontested election.
UNF SG recently announced that the Fall election voting process will be cancelled, following the news that the election ran uncontested with only 14 candidates running for 20 available Senate seats. Per the Office of Elections’ Policies & Procedures, a Bill of Acclamation is presented rather than a ballot, permitting senatorial candidates to be sworn in without any votes from the student body.
Below is the unofficial list of election winners, along with their party affiliation:
- Mariana Barnes (Talon)
- Kamyla Carrasquillo-Lebron (Talon)
- Alexa Dudkiewicz (Talon)
- Hunter Hayes (SAM)
- Kalillia Martinez (Talon)
- Audrey McGrath (Talon)
- Amy-Lee Murray (Talon)
- Algesia Pani (Talon)
- Benjamin Shmia (Independent)
- Winter Slaughter (SAM)
- Christian Snyder (Talon)
- Jacob Sumner (Talon)
- Jack Yanow (Talon)
- Brooke Yates (Talon)
Audrey McGrath is the current Senate President and Kamyla Carrasquilla-Lebron currently serves as Senate Pro-Tempore and Rules and Oversight Committee chair. Slaughter, Shmia, and Pani are all sitting senators.
Would you vote for these new senators?
In an effort to get to know our new student body senators, Spinnaker reached out to the other senatorial candidates who were not previously. As of Oct. 22, six of the nine new unofficial election winners responded.
Hunter Hayes (SAM)
Hunter Hayes, one of two SAM party elects, is in his first year at UNF and is studying political science. He’s also a member of the Hicks Honors College and has previous student government experience, participating in congressional debates when he was in high school.
“I am unbelievably excited to be representing the student body as one of the lucky few who gets to be a part of the UNF Senate,” Hayes said in a written statement.
Kalillia Martinez (Talon)
Kalillia Martinez is a freshman majoring in Molecular Cell Biology. Martinez is a member of the Latin American Student Organization (LASO), Asian Students in Alliance (ASIA), Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) and Filipino Student Association (FSA) at UNF.
Martinez expressed enthusiasm about her future role within SG, having attended UNF for just a few months before being elected one of the student body’s legislators.
“I hope being a senator will help me continue to be outgoing and help make this campus a fun and comfortable space for everyone, just like how it has been for me,” said Martinez.
Amy-Lee Murray (Talon)
Amy-Lee Murray is a freshman majoring in Biochemistry. Since starting at UNF, she knew she wanted to be involved with SG.
“My plan for SG, if I am approved by the Senate president, is to bring new opportunities, ideas and voices that may be lost in the crowd,” said Murray.
Jacob Sumner (Talon)
Jacob Sumner is a sophomore majoring in Social Studies Education. Sumner is also a member of the Osprey Pep Band, an Osprey Peer mentor and a student in the Hicks Honors College.
Sumner shared his excitement about his position in a written statement.
“I’m very excited to begin my time as a senator for the UNF SG and promise to support my peers and their voices,” said Sumner.
Jack Yanow (Talon)
Jack Yanow is majoring in Criminal Justice and minoring in Business Management. Yanow is also a member of Alpha Sigma Phi, a UNF fraternity.
Yanow also said he intends to address Greek Life concerns as a member of SG.
“I would also like to dedicate my time [in office] to help Greek Life at UNF,” Yanow said in a written statement.
Brook Yates (Talon)
Brooke Yates is a sophomore majoring in Nursing and minoring in Psychology. Yates is also on the UNF cross-country and track team.
All unofficial election winners will be subject to confirmation at upcoming SG meetings.
What happens after an uncontested election?
The answer varies.
In SG’s case, the senators listed above are declared unofficial winners by acclamation. This means the candidates ran unopposed, and as a result, their names will not appear on a ballot and voting is canceled.
In the event of an uncontested election, some official government offices mimic this protocol.
In fact, under Florida Statute 101.252, “when there is only one candidate of any political party qualified for such an office, the name of the candidate shall not be printed on the primary election ballot, and such candidate shall be declared nominated for the office”.
This statue pertains to the primary elections in the state of Florida.
Under certain jurisdictions, unopposed candidates are placed on the ballot to allow for the possibility of write-in candidates. It also serves as a check to ensure the candidate has a minimum level of public support.
In other cases, offices require a minimum vote before they can be sworn into the position.
UNF’s Student Government elected to follow the Bill of Acclamation as a protocol for their uncontested elections, per their policies and procedures.
The second uncontested fall election in a row
Given that this event occurred in last year’s election, Spinnaker reached out to current SG members to comment.
“Some lack of promotion, combined with the initiative to appoint more senators directly into office, may have led to the outcome of this uncontested election. It is no one individual’s fault for the outcome of the election, and even I could have fought harder to get candidates,” Sen. Slaughter said in a written statement.
Political science professor Sean Freeder explained the reasoning behind using a bill of acclamation in the case of an uncontested election.
“Using this tool…is attractive primarily because it reduces time, effort, and money spent on administering or advertising in races in which the outcome is certain,” Freeder said.
In the case that an uncontested election is held anyway, Freeder explained that this allows voters to cast “protest votes.”
“Voters might write in “no one” or the name of someone not running as a protest vote…In the context of student elections at a university, I could imagine the signal sent by protest write-ins could be more revealing, and therefore there could be more of a case for holding uncontested elections in that context,” said Freeder.
Christian Thomas, a UNF student, said that he did not know about this upcoming election despite following the SG Instagram page.
“I think that’s pretty unfair to the students who are running because their friends and fellow students can’t even vote for them. It feels pretty demeaning to not have any choice or vote in the student government,” said Thomas.
At the time of publication, the Office of Elections has not responded to Spinnaker’s requests for comment.
Since the beginning of this academic year, five senators have been officially appointed to the student Senate and one appointee awaits Senate confirmation.
Students can apply to be appointed as a senator or an associate justice on the SG website. While applicants are subject to committee and Senate confirmation, this method bypasses the election process.
Appointments and confirmations take place during weekly Senate and SG committee meetings. The next Senate meeting is Friday, Oct. 24 at noon in the SG Senate Chambers, Building 58E, Room 3200. The Rules and Oversight committee also called an emergency meeting for Friday that will take place at 11:30 a.m in the chambers.
These meetings are open to the public. Students can find meeting dates and times on the SG website.
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