The main talk of the last two weeks has been the presidential election, but whatever happened in the UNF Student Government Elections? It has been three weeks now since the election was finished, and the unofficial results were posted.

Three weeks later, and no new senators sworn in, what happened? The key word in that phrase is “unofficial”. They are not finalized, and not legitimate. This is because the judicial complaints have not been resolved yet.

How the elections work, as outlined in the Office of Elections Policies and Procedures, is that any complaints regarding the election must be sent to the Elections Commissioner, who then sends them to the Supreme Court, which will resolve any and all disputes.

Once all the complaints have been resolved, it is then that the results are finalized, and the newly elected Senators begin their terms. But that begs the question, why hasn’t it happened yet? The answer is that there are just so many of them. These election complaints are very complex, and they aren’t like pieces of paper that just require signatures. Each one must have a hearing in front of the Supreme Court, which will then deliberate on a decision.

Student Government Schedule, taken from UNF SG website

It’s a very long and tedious process, but the Supreme Court is working around the clock to get through all the complaints in a fair manner. The schedule for the next week is full of Election Violation Complaint Hearings. As of writing, only a handful of the near dozen hearings have been conducted so far, but once they are finished, the election results will be finalized, and Spinnaker will be there to let you know.