As I get more and more spam from our Glorious Leader in literally every St Andrews group I’m part of on Facebook (seriously please stop, I’ve turned off notifications about things I actually find interesting because of you), I can’t help but internally groan at the prospect of having to battle my way around town, fending off the hoards of picture takers and overly bubbly campaigners with gleeful smiles and bright stickers who are really just there as a favour to someone else or because they’re hoping to sleep with the candidate (every female on Pat Matthewson’s campaign team, this one goes out to you).
Does anyone here actually vote based on policy and people’s principles? It seems pretty obvious that this wasn’t the case for officers voted in last year as they continue to do things that are “best” without actually consulting the students they’re meant to represent, and I think we all know that this comes down to a pretty face and name recognition. Even as someone who tries to keep up with what our elected officers do, I can’t be bothered reading all of those descriptions on the ballot (especially not the SRC) and sabbaticals with 250 words? If you don’t have me hooked in the first 3 sentences, I’m out.
As the idea of a pretty face seems more and more relevant, I can’t help but be reminded of the April Fool’s Day joke the University pulled on us a few years ago, suggesting that written exams would be replaced with oral exams and regarding the concerns of anonymity, that examiners would wear paper bags over their heads. While this was a joke, it was seriously suggested that we remove all pictures from election ballots and run on our names alone.
The argument in favour of this was that we shouldn’t base our decision on the prettiest face but the substance of a candidate’s platform. While I completely agree with this, I can’t see the logic behind getting rid of faces and not names. Surely if we want our student body to choose the best possible candidate we should just remove both and have all decisions made based on the quality of a candidate’s platform and nothing else. As it turns out, the motion failed and we kept both the pretty faces and their names (bring on the eye candy).
Regardless, as Elections Week approaches, remember to take care of yourselves whether you’re a candidate, team member, or general townsperson. Don’t put up with harassment of any sort (this includes people touching you) and if a candidate does, report that to the Elections Committee asap.
On a side note, I’ve found a pretty cheap cricket paddle online and am thinking about carrying it around next week to ward people off. It will be gloriously engraved with the names of the fallen, those who have had unwanted stickers and devil-spawned flyers thrust upon them without consent and left in a state of confusion about the general state of life and human nature.
And for those going to the library – may the odds be ever in your favour.
This St Andrews Life 