Elections are over – finally

I don’t like campus elections. For that matter, I don’t really like any elections.

People harass me on campus constantly asking if I’ve voted or not. I tell them yes even if I haven’t just so they leave me alone. Another great tactic is the icy stare down. I like to give them the angry eyes and that look that says, “I dare you to ask if I’ve voted or not.” They usually don’t accept the dare.

This year I was even lucky enough to get a message on Canvas, people knocking on my apartment door and someone campaigning at my bus stop. These things all bother me to some degree, but there are two things that really grind my gears about elections.

First, it seems that elections in college are what they were in high school: an out-of-proportion popularity contest with no real purpose behind running other than to prove that you can win.

Secondly, if a candidate has real goals and ambitions, and by some miracle manages to get elected, there are so many roadblocks by administration that that person can’t accomplish anything anyway.

To address the first issue, the person with the most votes wins, so naturally the more popular candidate wins. The issue is that a friend or someone you know is not always the best option, but nearly all students would rather vote for a friend than do what’s best for the student body.

So we end up with a representative for our school who answers questions at a debate with, “I want to change things so it’s different next year.” Seriously? What does that even mean? What are you changing? How? That’s not an answer. That’s a generalization of what everyone who’s running thinks. The uninformed masses clap wildly like they’ve made some great speech, but really they’ve accomplished nothing at all.

It’s so much easier for a voter to be uninformed and take the easy option of voting for who they know. I’m guilty sometimes, but this year I decided to take the time to get informed, learn about elections and how politics work at the school. Sadly, that led to me being more upset with election results than ever before.

However, it also did something else: It made me more aware of the powers that our student government has. Knowing how student government functions at Utah State brought me to the realization that when someone is elected they quickly notice they don’t have much power.

Once I realized that the administration is really in control and that the student association could hardly accomplish something without being stopped, I felt bad for those in office. That’s the real story that nobody is talking about — the lack of power that the students really have to make changes. Make no mistake about it. This university is run by the administration, not the students.

When I made all my discoveries, I came back to my original point of view: I don’t like elections.

I felt that my time had been wasted getting informed because the most popular candidates generally win out anyways, and those that are elected get cut-off nearly every time they try to make a change.

So next time student elections come around, I don’t even think I’ll bother getting informed. It won’t make a difference even if I do.

— Kalen Taylor is a sophomore double-majoring in broadcast journalism and Spanish. He considered running for some sort of office but then thought better of it once he realized he’s not very popular — he’s just going to stick with what he knows best: Sports. Feel free to email him via email at kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com or on Twitter @kalen_taylor.