Author: Ali Raymond & Kenna Cottrill
Dear Editor,
Thanks for your feedback in the newspaper on April 18 about ASOC Elections this year. We appreciate hearing students opinions about how elections go for them.
We also wanted to give you some insight into why we don’t have “formal, mandatory speeches” as you did in high school. First, this may not be a strength to all candidates. If candidates are not great public speakers, their important message may be lost in poor public speaking. Second, all candidates are given the opportunity to set up a formal speech if they choose.
However, if candidates, as a whole position, choose not to take this opportunity, we do not feel it is our place to force them to do so. For some people, forcing them to do speeches is just like high school, and it’s not something they think is positive. So, we have to balance those perspectives.
We also believe that voters have a responsibility to gather information about candidates. When the candidate list is made public, students have a right to contact the candidates to find out what they stand for. IF voters don’t ask questions, how will candidates know what voters want to know? They make eye-catching posters with a few main campaign points in an effort to initiate conversations–but it’s not meant to be the end of the conversation.
The process is a two way street. Candidates need to be honest about their platform and qualifications and open to student questions AND students need to ask the questions they think are important. It will continue to be a “joke” if both sides don’t take more responsibility.
We are going to more strongly encourage candidates to take an active role in campaigning beyond just posters. IF you have other suggestions, please feel free to pass them on.
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