SGA presidential candidates and their running mates gathered early Monday morning to kick off the first day of voting. Tents and mini voting stations were set up all over campus with the main hub residing right outside the Student Union.
A neutral tent was available for students who wanted to cast their votes anonymously while SGA members handed out shirts, bags and Frisbees to students who participated.
More than 20 students took the time to cast their votes on the iPad’s provided by SGA, while most students stated they would cast their votes later at home.
“It’s important to have these votes because students deserve to know who their SGA president and vice president are,” said Chris Mari, junior human communications major and assistant supervisor of elections. “They control the $18.6 million Activity and Service Fee budget and that controls a lot of the activities around campus, so I think it’s important for a lot of students to vote because that comes right out of your tuition and that’s really a big thing.”
Presidential candidate Nick Larkins, junior health sciences major, and his running mate Cristina Barreto, junior industrial engineering and management systems major, wore hot pink shirts and led a modest tent, where they conversed with students on campus issues.
Presidential candidate Josh Boloña and running mate Jad Shalhoub, both junior industrial engineering majors, had music playing and ventured out of their tent to stop students and hand out stickers.
“I know that the SGA has a very large budget and what they deal with, and they are using a lot of our money and they bring that back to a lot of our students,” said Luckens Briseus, junior legal studies major. “Elections are relatively fair in deciding where those funds get used and allocated.”
Voting will be open until Wednesday. Students can drop by the Student Union to cast their votes on campus Tuesday and Wednesday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., as well as at the gym Tuesday night between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Students can also cast their votes online at my.ucf.edu.
The election results will be announced Wednesday after voting ends outside of the Student Union.
Originally published March 27, 2017