The spring electoral season is one of the biggest campus-wide series of political events as the students, faculty and alumni are eager to see who has what it takes to lead the Highest of the Seven Hills.
Spring elections are hot on the campus’s heels as the Electoral Commission is gearing up for yet another election season.
Senior pre-physical therapy student, Emanie Johnson serves as the Deputy Electoral Commissioner for the FAMU Electoral Commission.
Johnson is relieved that she will witness a FAMU election cycle without pandemic regulations diminishing any of the components before she graduates.
“I am looking forward to the upcoming election season because it is not only my last one, but also the first one that is projected to be fully in-person post-covid,” Johnson.
According to the official Electoral Commission’s page on FAMU iStrike, The FAMU Electoral Commission is responsible for supervising campus elections, registering students to vote and encouraging students to vote during campus, local, state and national elections.
“Being a part of the electoral commission thus far has been nonetheless an awesome learning experience as well as an eye-opening one in regard to all the hard work that is done behind the scenes to run great campus elections; I enjoy the initiatives the electoral commission hosts to help promote the democratic process,” said Precinct Supervisor, Zuri Patrick.
Students expressed their disdain for how long the fall election season took to commence this past semester on various social media platforms. Patrick, however, has a positive outlook on the situation when expressing how her first election went as a member of the Electoral Commission.
“What I enjoyed most about the fall election season is regardless of the hiccups we faced with having to restart elections, the electoral commission as a whole never became discouraged but was able to stick together and continue to run a successful election” Patrick said.
Senior Mia Uzzell who is notably known as the current Mister FAMU, Armani Jones campaign manager shared her experience from this past Spring election.
“From a managerial perspective, running campaigns at FAMU means shifting the perceptions of the electorate. We often think of targeting the 10% of FAMU – students in Greek Life, the Royal Court, or SGA. But running for campaigns means getting in touch with the other 90% of the students,” said Uzzell.
Students want to see and elect genuine candidates with a heart to serve the FAMU and Tallahassee community, Uzzell advises candidates to stay true to themselves while vowing for a leadership role at FAMU.
“It is important to start building your brand while also ensuring you are not recreating yourself. Authenticity is key at FAMU and as someone that has run campaigns it is important for candidates to understand that the best person they can be is themselves,” said Uzzell.
SGA President Zachary Bell has executed a few successful campaigns for various campus positions. He transparently explained how his presidential campaign went.
“My campaign went great, however, it did come with a lot of hiccups as expected. There are a lot of moving parts that take place while campaigning for a campus position,” said Bell.
Bell provided some advice to students who are anticipating to be candidates in the Spring 2023 elections.
“You must forward think about many things to be as efficient as possible. It is important to have a good team to oversee table logistics, scheduling events, and even making sure that the candidates are finding time to do their schoolwork,” said Bell.
As the Spring semester takes heed, the election of new prominent leaders on FAMU’s campus is something students and alumni are beyond excited to see.