Here is a recent article about last year's SGA elections from the CW (UA's student newspaper):
http://www.cw.ua.edu/vnews/display.v...b?in_archive=1
Here is another one you might find interesting:
http://www.cw.ua.edu/vnews/display.v...f?in_archive=1
and one more:
http://www.cw.ua.edu/vnews/display.v...3?in_archive=1
It is a strange thing, but it's nothing that the independent voters couldn't overcome if they would band together and cast their vote for independent candidates. There is a large amount of student apathy on campus... that is why the Machine gets its candidate elected (almost) every time.
That said, the Machine gets blamed for a lot of things at UA and most of that is just the independents or the administration looking for a scapegoat.