UNF Student Government Elections Supervisor Sara Burris said she will step down Sept. 10, and Senator Courtney Warner will replace her.
Burris, a UNF communication sophomore and SG senator, said she decided to resign as the elections supervisor since she felt the workload for the job was too strenuous. She will continue to work with SG as a senator.
Burris wants to spend more time with her Delta Gamma sorority sisters, she said.
“I wanted to devote more time to my sisters and more time to my academics,” Burris said. “I love this job, I love Student Government, but I did find within this job that it was so much work, but the previous chairs before me have had such a hard time with this job.”
She said she will use her position as a senator to work with SG to find a method to make the elections supervisor job easier.
Burris said she is adamant about pushing for the elections supervisor position to become a cooperative effort between two people. She said because of the workload given to the elections supervisor, it is ridiculous to only have one person doing the work.
“This job is a two-person-type job,” Burris said.
Warner, who will take Burris’ place as the elections supervisor, said she feels she can handle the pressures of the position, and she hopes to get things off the ground for the upcoming special election. Warner said she may continue to take up this position after the election, but it is dependent on if she decides to run in the spring.
Burris said she believes Warner will do a great job as the new elections supervisor.
“I have full faith in her, she’s done a lot of good for this school and for Student Government, and I think she’s going to do an awesome job,” Burris said.
Meanwhile, Burris also said the position of vice chair of the elections and appointments committee needs to step up and become a bigger part of the activities involved in setting up an election. Burris said this position needs to have more involvement in some of the election processes.
Burris said she believes she had to deal with extra pressure after the debacle between senators and former SG Elections Supervisor Erica Richey.
“I took what happened to the previous chair [Richey] with me into this job, and I had that pressure on [me], as well,” Burris said.
Mack Volk, SG Senate President, is supportive of Burris’ decision to step down, and he said he hopes she continues to work well for the Senate.
“That job is very demanding, and I find what she did was very honorable,” Volk said. “Being the elections supervisor, the E&A chair, it’s a crazy job, and a lot of people get into it without knowing what the expectations are.”
Volk said he does not know why the elections supervisor position is made so difficult, and he said he does not think there is one answer to the problem.
“It’s very stressful knowing that an entire election is on you,” Volk said.
He said having Warner filling in for Burris was crucial to keeping the election on time. Volk said Warner is perfect for the job.
The special elections take place Sept. 16.
