After the recent freshman elections took place and Presley Clark and Jack Pew were announced at the bonfire as the next president and vice, controversy has been sparked over the fairness and equality of the officers’ elections.
This year many people have been wondering about the sudden shift of the election’s style. For a while, the last elections were held with separate ballots for both president and vice. This year the elections returned to double ballot votes, with both parties running together. Although this has left some confusion in the student body, Student Government insiders said that this shift was nothing but a deliberate decision in hopes of giving the freshmen more courage to run, rather than subjecting them to the humiliation and stress of running alone. This decision assured it will not be extended to future elections, since it was largely considered a failure by the greater Student Government.
But by far the biggest potential concern of corruption is that in the past, the student vote counted as only 60% of the actual presidential decision. But this year that number has been lowered to just 50%. Meaning that the decision of the entire freshman class is equivalent to the decision of the 12 members in Student Government. Meaning that the decision of 30 freshmen voters could be countered by just one officer.
This Student Government overview was created as a mode of preventing a popularity contest-like atmosphere, and is carried out by looking over applications, and then giving them a score of 1-10. Luckily the victors of the recent election were both the most popularly voted students among freshman, and government officers. So that at least with this singular election the results are actually true to the populous, and thus fair. Even so, this controversial mode of deciding could seem shady. In fact many students, including Rio Thelan, call it entirely corrupt.
As for the winners of last week’s elections, both had held student body positions throughout middle school, and Clark related in her interview about how she raised money for all new waterfalls in her last school. When asked what sets her apart from other potential candidates, she answered, “I’m driven, especially what I do is going to benefit more than just me”. Pew replied, “My principal mindset, acting with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice, and respect.”.
Other candidates who lost have, in some cases, been offered a ceremonial position in the government because their applications convinced officers of their fitness for office. Even those who did not win will always be able to participate through the Student Government club which takes place each Wednesday.
