WITH ELECTIONS looming up on us next week, students are being overwhelmed with chalkings and fliers. Many people complain that students are not interacting and being adequately informed by the candidates. Rather, students vote for the names they see the most around Grounds.
In fact, voting for whomever's name sticks out in your head is one of the best ways to elect a hard-working, passionate leader for whatever office they might be running for.
The "problem" that some think we face now is that there is no massive attempt to educate the voters on most of the choices they will be making. With the exception of the heavily publicized honor referenda and the endorsements of candidates by key groups around Grounds, voters are basically blind to the candidates. Let's face it, how much will the average first year know or care about the six candidates for next year's Second Year Council president?
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Unless you know candidates personally, chances are you have no clue who they are, what they stand for, and how they'll perform in their roles. With dozens of positions that students are running for, educating yourself on the candidates, their beliefs and their work ethics would be an arduous and wasteful task.
This basically leaves one way to decide whom to vote for: the quantity and quality of their publicity, which can be inferred from their fliers and chalkings. Many students in these elections just vote for the first name that comes into their mind. Now, it may not seem right to vote for someone by using such superficial criteria. But is it really wrong to do so?
Student elections are not national elections. While important in a presidential or congressional campaign, personal ideologies are almost irrelevant when it comes to electing a class council president or an Honor Committee representative, although ideology does seem important among Honor candidates.
What is important is how hard a candidate will work and how enthusiastic he or she is about the position. An apathetic, laid-back student government is more dangerous than one whose ideological beliefs run contrary to those of the student body.
How would you try to find the most devoted, eager candidate for the position? The one who wants it the most will probably spend the most time campaigning; whether it be by shaking hands, hanging up fliers, or chalking up the sidewalks.
One can determine several things about candidates just from looking at the way they promote themselves. If you see their names everywhere, then they must be working hard to get their signs up. If they chalk near "high traffic areas" and make sure their names are in big bright letters, you might deduce that these candidate are shrewd and intelligent.
What does this leave you with? If you recognize a candidate's name right away, chances are that he or she is diligent, eager and clever. With all other things considered, why not vote for him or her?
It seems logical that the one who does the most work during the campaign will also be the one who does the most work in office. No one strives for something that they don't want to do.
Despite people rallying against student apathy and calling for more involvement in student elections, there aren't any alternatives. As much as publications and organizations around Grounds try to spur debate and point out differences between the candidates, the majority of the student body just doesn't care. And there's not much you can do to spur interest in something as boring as the race for the Engineering Council vice president.
With students who vote for the first name that pops into their heads, we ironically have a system that ensures a generally hard-working student government. So do we need to stress ourselves out trying to "inform the student body" every time there's a student election?
So next week when you vote, just check off whomever's name you recognize first. Don't feel bad about voting for someone just because you've seen his or her name in chalk the most. Rather, you should congratulate yourself on voting for the most diligent, enthusiastic and capable candidate.
(Brian Cook is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at bcook@cavalierdaily.com).
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