UF Journalism students work to close Florida's local election information gap

2026 is a big year for elections. Between congressional midterms and the Florida gubernatorial election, there is a lot of information for Florida voters to follow.

But while these big elections attract a lot of media attention, there are hundreds of smaller elections taking place across the state that often get overlooked, especially in areas that lack robust local news networks to sufficiently cover them.

On Aug. 18, dozens of school board primaries will take place, and thanks to a grant from the University of Florida president’s office, students at the UF College of Journalism and Communications are providing much-needed news coverage for areas in these news deserts.

This coverage is part of a wider project created by the Florida Election Reporting Partnership, which is bringing together journalists from dozens of schools and media outlets across the state. Michael and Linda Connelly Senior Lecturer in Investigative Reporting Ted Bridis is managing the college’s contributions, and under his guidance, 11 students have spent the last few months investigating and reporting on 23 different elections in 13 counties: Marion, St. Lucie, Highland, Union, Volusia, Citrus, Okaloosa, Holmes, Walton, Escambia, Santa Rosa, Lafayette and Suwannee.

“For each race, students researched the critical issues in the county school district, investigated the backgrounds of the candidates, analyzed campaign contributions and expenditures and interviewed the candidates and key stakeholders, including administrators, incumbents, teachers’ unions and others,” said Bridis.

For the student reporters, this experience was more than just a chance to work on their reporting skills. It was an authentic journalism experience, with each student receiving a stipend of $15 per hour, about what they would expect to earn from a newsroom internship, to pay for public records and travel costs. Their work is also being published online with their bylines by The Florida Trib, which not only gives them portfolio materials but also gives them exposure for future job opportunities. 

Valeria Havrylets, a third-year Journalism student, used this experience to step out of her comfort zone and expand her horizons. Her specialty as a writer is in sports journalism, and she already works as a student reporter for WUFT, but when Bridis reached out with this opportunity she jumped at the chance to try her hand at political reporting. It was also her first experience working with a company not fully affiliated with UF, but she took the challenges in stride while covering the elections in Volusia County District 5 and Union County District 1.

“Through this experience I have learned a lot about school boards and the laws set in place in Florida regarding education and teacher pay,” said Havrylets. “I hope I can cover more elections in the near future!”

Julianna Bendeck, a second-year Journalism student, has been working as a student reporter since high school, and joined this project to gain experience covering elections. She served as The Independent Florida Alligator's crime reporter during the summer and previously worked as its race and equity reporter, where she reported on the racial achievement gap in Alachua County's K-12 schools. That reporting sparked Bendeck's interest in education, leading her to join the project. She covered the Marion County District 5 and St. Lucie County District 1 school board races.

“I had the most fun backgrounding candidates, especially in the Marion District 5 race,” Bendeck said. “The process can be challenging at times, but it ultimately allows you to build a more complete picture of a candidate so voters can make an informed decision during election season."

For Sam Rislin, a second-year Journalism student, working on this project was her first experience as a student reporter. She was taking Bridis’ applied fact-finding course when she got invited to join and decided it would be a good opportunity to practice what she had been learning in that course and others at CJC. She was assigned to Citrus County’s District 3 race. 

“I got to learn how to find out information on my candidates, the process of how to reach out to my candidates and how to write interview questions,” said Rislin. “I was nervous at first, since I haven't written a report on school board elections before, but I got a lot of help during this process.”

While the bulk of the students’ reporting and writing work for this project is finished, many of their stories are awaiting publication. To stay up to date with these elections and to see their finished work, check out the Florida Trib’s website.