LETTER: Slogan a goos reason to vote

Dear Editor, Recently the paper published its opinion on student elections. They said we should vote for people and not slogans. I agree to a certain extent. However, I find this extremely difficult. I do not know personally all of the candidates, but I believe that most, if not all, of them have a desire to help the students here at Utah State University. After reading about the candidates, it is still a tricky task to decide for whom to vote. The people running for office are all exceedingly experienced both on and off of USU. But we have very little chance to get to know the candidates. We heard about them first last Wednesday with voting on Thursday and Friday. The final elections are this week. To be able to discuss issues with each candidate is almost impossible. They all have certain objectives, but cannot address every issue that may come up during their administration. I would like to know what they think about making campus more left-hand oriented and with more Aggie Ice Cream given to students, but I just do not have the time or the means to do this. To make a good decision in this small time frame is extremely difficult. They all promise to do good things, but how do we know they are even able to do them? If they say they will fight for student rights with the legislature or administration they may be able to. But what if these measures fail? Because of this, I think almost anyone who has the guts to run would do a good job. A slogan is as good a reason as any to vote. Some people who may or may have not already lost in the primaries are now trying to be elected by write-in. We live in a democracy. This means that the “majority rules.” When we introduce more than two candidates to run for the final election, this can allow someone with somewhat less than the majority to win. This is undemocratic and could also be called “cheating.”

Paul M. Schmidt