Our View: Election day was a bit ridiculous - and should’ve been taken more seriously.
As we anticipated, election season this year was a little different. An apparent surge in student apathy resulted in not only an unusually low number of students running for student government and other leadership roles, but also campaign season getting a bit out of control.
It seemed as though this year, the people who were involved in running and campaigning efforts couldn’t quite seem to get it together, down to the day of elections.
A huge topic of discussion around campus was the unopposed slate running for the 50th Howard University Student Association administration. The slate, which included a sophomore for position of executive president (Brandon Harris), and second-year law student and former HUSA executive vice president (Will Roberts) for position of executive vice president, was criticized for their laid-back approach to campaigning and what seemed like a half-hearted attempt at a platform.
Regardless of any hang-ups students had with the slate’s enthusiasm (or lack thereof), there wasn’t much they could do. Harris and Roberts were the only available candidates. That was until the morning on which voting began.
Jokingly, random students began announcing via Twitter feeds that they were also running for HUSA and asked friends to write them into the online ballots as candidates. After several hours retweets, mass text messages, and word of mouth, the informal campaigning landed several candidates in the running for the position of HUSA. Mind you, these candidates has little serious interest in actually obtaining positions in student government until that morning.
What started off as a joke soon turned into a movement, as numerous students wrote-in their friends and acquaintances for the very serious positions of executive president and vice president. Although this phenomenon stole less than one percent of the vote from Harris and Roberts , it was interesting to see just how many students decided to vote for their unqualified friends and acquaintances instead of a registered slate.
It seemed as if the majority of the student body found the situation humorous, doing their part in spreading the word, and telling their friends to likewise write in these new and unexpected candidates for HUSA. Others found the joke disappointing, confused about why students would take such a serious decision so lightly. HUSA Executive President Bryan Smart even broadcasted his feelings about the mockery via Twitter.
He attacked the issue head on with tweets saying, “Next year, when you are having real issues with the university, remember this mockery that we’re making of student government!” He expressed his bewilderment at student behavior, claiming it was “ridiculous,” and imploring the student body as to why we were “taking something so important as a joke.”
It’s a little ridiculous that students would knowingly choose to nominate unqualified candidates to a position that so severely impacts the well-being of the student body. Maybe the “unexpected candidates” really meant well, and were interested in trading in their election day jokes for a serious face if elected.
Regardless of their motives, the fact that some students were so willing to choose them over real candidates says something about the state of the student body, as well as the strength of Harris and Robert’s slate. If the real slate had made a stronger impression on the student body, or if the majority of students took student government as seriously as they should, students would not have taken the time to write-in random candidates (or do any of their last minute campaigning).
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