The turnout for the first round of this year’s election for student body president was the lowest in over a decade, and more than 10 percent of votes cast were write-ins for writer Zora Neale Hurston. This year’s candidates did little to distinguish themselves on matters of particular concern to this university. Nor did they appear to represent the diverse interests and backgrounds of the entire student body.
In the future, it would be prudent to allow students to declare their candidacies up until the date that ballot petitions are due to the Board of Elections, seven days before the general election. This would allow a hesitant student to mobilize groups that are not fully represented by candidates who declare their intentions earlier.
Under the current rules, students must declare their candidacy at one of two meetings held 14 and 15 days before the general election.
In this year’s election cycle, it became obvious that no candidate emerged to represent the various interests of marginalized groups on campus. Whether a candidate from this side of the political spectrum would be the most effective student body president is irrelevant; with such a large and diverse student population, an election for an office with as much potential to direct relationships with the administration and state politicians should provide every opportunity for more candidates to emerge.
By changing this provision to encourage a more broad array of candidacies, students will be more likely to support and vote for a candidate rather than failing to vote at all as they have in this election.
