Time to Think

The Undergraduate Council (UC) Election Commission lengthened this year’s presidential campaign from four days to 11, giving student government hopefuls an extra week to preen and be vetted before polls open on Dec. 12. In the face of last year’s dismal voter turnout, the extension of the campaigning period for UC candidates is undoubtedly a good thing.

With a sufficiently large student body, it is hard for any candidate to be known widely enough on campus for all students to make an informed voting decision. Freshmen have had only three months to meet other students—who are likely to also be freshmen (and therefore unlikely to be UC presidential candidates). As such, a UC campaign’s primary purpose should be to serve as a vehicle for candidates and voters alike to get to know each other in order to feel confident in the electoral process.

That being said, this valuable new time allotment for extra campaigning must be used wisely. Current electoral shortcomings stem primarily from a plethora of students who are largely apathetic and uniformed. The UC and its presidential candidates should accept the fact that these students may never be coaxed into caring enough about the process to cast a ballot. However, for those who may indeed be swayed, the campaigns must use this extra time to find more creative ways to reach out to students. This might include bringing campaign events and debates down to the House-wide rather than campus-wide level, or perhaps coordinating more community-based debate watching parties.

The UC leadership has touted this extra campaign time as a way to provide student groups with more time to debate and endorse a presidential ticket. We encourage student groups to endorse candidates, as they have a vested interest in the UC from a funding and status-dependent standpoint. Taking this into account, we would suggest that student groups endorse candidates based primarily on how a their platform would specifically affect the group—rather than use the irrelevant criterion of how a certain candidate’s individual qualities or ideals may align with the group’s particular ideology. Endorsements are indeed an important component of any democratic process, and should not be denigrated by any such red herrings that are irrelevant to the election at hand.

Ultimately, we applaud and anticipate the extra days of this year's UC presidential election, and strongly urge the candidates to use the extension in new, creative, and effective ways so as to avoid the dismal voter turnout rates of the past.