Elections Coverage – Election reflections

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his week has been an intense week of election campaigning. Maybe it is because I’m covering the elections for the Boar, but I feel so much more involved and invested this year (by comparison to my first).

I wrote a pretty pessimistic article at the start of week, calling out the lack of participation, which is largely a result of bad communication between the SU and the students.

I still think this stands, and I still feel very pessimistic about the role of the Sabb team and how effective they actually are (read “I don’t understand the man-children” and “I understand if you’ve stopped caring” on the Comment page for some excellent points).

I feel so much more involved and invested this year

I am caught between feeling impressed by the candidates and their teams, who stand out in the cold flyering all day, and feeling overwhelmed with the oversaturation of information on campus.

There are so many criticisms that I could list for you, and that you’ve undoubtedly heard – how effective is the Sabb team/does the university actually listen to them? If you had time you could read minutes of meetings and see how our Sabbs are responded to.

There are so many criticisms that I could list for you, and that you’ve undoubtedly heard

And what is on all of our minds – how totally environmentally unfriendly this whole week is. Okay, nothing new here, we’re all on the same page.

Thus, this attitude of apathy and disengagement prevails. And as I sat down this morning to cast my vote, I still found myself not knowing who I wanted to vote for.

This attitude of apathy and disengagement prevails.

A lot of the candidates have similar ideas or even the same ideas. This makes it so hard to vote. If we are essentially getting the same policy with any candidate, how do you make a choice?

Then these elections either turn into a popularity contest – do you know the candidate personally? Who are your friends endorsing? Might as well just go along with that.

A lot of the candidates have similar ideas or even the same ideas.

Or, we’re back at square one and people feel their vote makes no difference as all the candidates look the same at this point, resulting in no voting.

Or, you end up like me, thinking about silly things like “how good does their marketing/manifesto graphics look?” (a fair consideration but it should not make or break a vote) or “shall I just vote for the girl because their policies are basically the same and I want to see more representation?”

People feel their vote makes no difference as all the candidates look the same at this point

I’m in a tricky situation where I feel I’m not making any kind of positive choice. I’m either voting for someone for some stupid reason, or I am not voting at all. For the roles where only one candidate has run, I have chosen to vote to reopen nominations.

I am doing this because there is no competition for these single runners. I haven’t been given a choice, and I don’t think it is democratic or right that they should get the role by default.

For the roles where only one candidate has run, I have chosen to vote to reopen nominations.

So here we are, coming to the final day of voting. I am not going to tell you to vote. I don’t even feel that good about my vote, and I’m not going to promise you that “your vote matters” because I’m not sure it does.

The candidates all seem to have the same ideas, and my vote is based only partly in policy. I don’t have much faith in how effectively they will be implemented anyway. I find myself choosing for the wrong reasons.

I am not going to tell you to vote. I don’t even feel that good about my vote

In some cases I want a certain candidate just because they are not white or male, and I want more representation in the SU. I feel so disillusioned with the quality of representation, effectiveness of the Sabbs, and the overall democracy of this “election”.

I may be more engaged this year, and I may be voting, but my pessimism about the SU has only increased as a result.