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May 4, 2004
Legend's View:
A few suggestions for our student elections
Well, student government elections on campus have come and gone and nobody
knew it. To top it off, nobody voted and nobody ran for office.
OK, so “nobody” might be an exaggeration. But let’s
be honest, with only 508 students who voted out of a student body of nearly
25,000 it may as well have been nobody. And with at least one office –
executive vice president – having just one candidate running, the
election may as well have been a volunteer program.
It’s safe to say the elections on April 12 and 14 went badly.
The Mesa Legend did some digging over the past weeks and while most findings
and student accusations can be found in the news article on the front
page of this edition, here are some facts that may have made ASMCC look
improprietous:
• At the Red Mountain campus, elections were advertised to be held
10 a.m. to 2 p.m., but didn’t actually start until 11:15 a.m. Students
who showed up between that 10 and 11:15 a.m. gap were asked to fill in
“unofficial ballots” and told their votes would be transferred
to “official ballots” later. Those ballots were later disqualified.
• Ballots were not anonymous. Students were asked not only to show
college IDs, but to write their names on the top of their ballots. Also,
voters were asked to hand ballots to candidates, who manned the ballot
boxes, to complete their votes.
• A candidate’s girlfriend, who is also the current executive
vice president, was asked to take the ballot box from one campus to the
other.
Now, granted, these community college elections are relatively unimportant
and all the problems in ASMCC are most likely innocent. But student voters
should expect to have a choice of candidates, to know when elections are
being held and to know that the vote for which they are being counted
is beyond any doubt the vote they submitted.
ASMCC is important in that they not only organize events such as homecoming,
but have charge of campus clubs, including club money, and represent the
students of MCC.
Their image is just as important as anything.
Here are a few suggestions for the “elected” officers, senate
members and advisers that will help organize student elections in spring
of 2005. Hopefully, these suggestions will help ensure that fiascos such
as this year’s election, which has caused some student backlash,
do not happen again:
• Up your presence - Who knew that MCC has a student government?
Increase your activity on campus and you may get more interest for candidates
and voters.
• Organize - Do not leave candidates – or their girlfriends
– alone with ballot boxes. Plan for others to shoulder the responsibility
if need be. Again, think of the image.
• Enforce the rules - Candidates were allowed to use posters with
copyrighted material, sexual innuendo and alcohol references. That’s
definitely against ASMCC policy.
• Inform - Make sure students know about elections, and know about
the student government. Ask teachers to let you take five minutes at the
beginning of a class to pass out fliers and make a quick announcement.
• Relax or clarify candidacy requirements - Candidates must have
previous experience within ASMCC, according to bylaws. Candidacy for elected
positions should never require previous experience. Let the voters decide
that.
Try these and see what happens. They may work and they may not. They are
just suggestions. But please, don’t again hold elections in which
nobody runs, nobody votes and nobody is the wiser.
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