The new political party on campus promoting conversation about what’s fair in Student Government elections.
Students familiar with this fall’s Student Government elections may have noticed a new political party tabling on campus or appearing on their social media feeds. Watch Party is Alfredo Ortiz’s newest venture within Student Government (SG), which he and co-founder Dominic Acosta started to promote policies for fair elections. Concerned that public disputes over elections between Change and Vision Party would only contribute further to apathy toward Student Government, Ortiz felt the need to start Watch Party.
Ortiz explained that Change Party’s loss in the spring 2024 elections, as well as Pizza Party’s success in gaining interest as a third party in the fall of 2023, showed him that the student body was ready for an alternative political party. Frustrated with the electoral map apportionment process and the state of elections at UF, Ortiz leveraged his years of experience in SG as the Senate Parliamentarian and the chairman of the Senate Government Oversight and Reform committee to recruit others to Watch Party’s campaign.
However, Ortiz, Acosta and their fellow Watch Party members are not running a traditional campaign. As a third party that is unfamiliar to many students, Ortiz stated he does not expect Watch Party to win any Senate seats. Instead, he hopes to use the campaign to start a conversation within the student body on the issue of fair elections.
“To us, this election isn’t about winning. This election is about getting ourselves established as a brand, as an ideology, as a set of principles,” stated Ortiz.
Without an expectation to win, Watch Party can more easily pursue their single-issue platform of promoting fair elections, and does not feel the need to use traditional methods of social media marketing. With just a quick visit to their Instagram, students may notice that there are no videos and there is no introduction of Watch Party’s candidates. On the contrary, they will find an audio clip titled “Watch Party Radio,” and may even find Watch Party information and advertisements on Snapchat’s UF class stories.
With a stated goal of building consensus in the student body, these unique methods of voter outreach have been successful for Watch Party. Ortiz explains the lack of candidate introduction on their social media by asking “How are we supposed to build consensus if people are actively trying to avoid us?” According to Ortiz, Watch Party is “not trying to split the Senate three ways instead of two ways,” but “trying to bridge the gaps.”
Watch Party’s unique membership structure offers anyone the chance to help build consensus if they are interested in the party’s fair elections priority. Ortiz stated that when seeking out the party’s first members, he and Acosta looked for people who are innovative thinkers and wholly dedicated to fair elections, but that their candidates’ other political ideologies were not a concern. By offering a dual membership model, Watch Party encourages people already affiliated with Change Party or Vision Party who share a commitment to fair elections, to get involved with their advocacy efforts.
Should some of Watch Party’s 20 Fall candidates win their seats, they are not expected to vote along a caucus line for any matter other than for legislation related to elections. As for Watch Party’s legislative goals, Ortiz stated that although he is opposed to the pre-2023, district model of apportionment, that he would like to see the at-large model modified to include a majority-minority district for the 32608 zip code. Historically, a majority of the constituents in this zip code have identified as a racial or ethnic minority.
Longer term, Ortiz stated he would even support a ranked choice voting system for SG, which he believes would give third parties a more competitive chance at winning office. How UF’s satellite campuses vote and how their activity and service fees are spent is another topic of fair elections that Ortiz could see Watch Party working to reform in the future.
While Ortiz has lofty goals for Watch Party, he hopes that when returning to campus in 10 years, no Watch Party exists anymore as its goals will have been accomplished. Ortiz and Acosta have invested in younger students, including a freshman student as party president, to carry on the mission of Watch Party. For now, Ortiz continues to work so that students will “have faith in the institution” by advocating for fair election reforms. While acknowledging that a victory is unlikely, Ortiz hopes that people will come to know Watch Party as “the party for their elections.” In a political landscape dominated by competition, Watch Party stands as a reminder that sometimes success is found in changing the conversation, not just the outcome.
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