David Taintor

Most of the students know what Student Senate is, or at least have heard of it. If you haven’t noticed yet, elections for president and vice president will be held next week, from April 13-15.

I have always felt that all students should vote for this. After all, they will represent your voice to the university and state administrations. According to a March 12 Spectator article, Student Senate decided to go back to paper ballots after they rejected the resolution to collect votes online.

If you were here last year you heard that many students weren’t able to vote, while faculty and staff could. Others voted more than once and even some alumni were given the link by mistake.

The article stated that the 2007 election, with paper ballots, had about a 6.3 percent turnout by students, while the online election received about a 26 percent turnout.

The difference is huge.

According to the university’s fast facts, there are 10,346 undergraduate students at Eau Claire.

This means about 651 students voted in 2007 and about 2,689
students voted when it was online.

Why are 7,657 students not voting?

I understand that we all have busy schedules and sometimes we don’t even find time to eat. Yet we find 10 minutes to half an hour in our “busy” schedule to log onto Facebook.

Students can use those minutes more wisely next Monday through Wednesday. Go and vote, take those minutes you spend on Facebook and voice your opinion in the upcoming elections.

Most of the students at Eau Claire have one, if not two jobs to pay for school. Students take out loans to pay for their
education, some have the financial aid, whether it’s from the university or parent’s help. The point is, money is being given to your education.

With your tuition you are supporting programs you participate in or programs you might not even know about.

So, why don’t you care where the money you pay for school goes?

You have the right to know this information, and you have the right to choose whoever you feel will be more qualified to allocate that money.

I do believe in the right to vote, whether you want to exercise it or not, that is your problem.

But when programs are being cut, when the budget for your education is hanging by a thin thread, I believe it’s time for you to take a moment and start caring.

I think all three tickets have one thing in common – they all want to create a better bond with students.

I believe that candidates should also campaign to get students to vote, not only creating Facebook pages – which many people join, – but how many of those will actually take the time to go and vote next week?

I think that Senate has the job to reach out to students, but this is a two-way relationship.

In order for Senate to be able to reach students, the first step for students is become interested in Senate, and I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to interact with whoever gets chosen.

As a student who pays dues, you should expect the same commitment from the university. Unfortunately, that commitment can’t be reached unless you vote.

What if you don’t vote because you believe that none of the candidates are good for the job? Well I think there should be an option for that. Maybe it won’t be on this year’s ballot, but for the future, I would hope that this could be a possible option on the ballot.

The “no candidate is suitable” option should count as well. If a student doesn’t feel represented by a ticket, then he or she should voice that opinion.

It can only take about 10 minutes to vote, but remember the pair that wins will be in charge for a year.

There’s no comparison as to how much impact your vote can have.

If the ticket that you vote for doesn’t win, that’s no reason to give up voting for other elections. You must always remember that at least you were one more vote towards the ticket you voted for.

According to Student Senate’s Web site, they represent the best interests of the students by “authorizing and passing legislations to better improve student life and the overall quality of the university.”

The site states they have the responsibility of allocating $2.5 million. This is not a small amount.

There are six positions to the executive office at Senate. Apart from those, there are nine commission directors and 30 senators, so one way or another you can get your foot in the Student Senate door.

Students, you have three days to vote starting on Monday.
Take some time to have a say in who gets to represent you. Take some part in this decision and if your ticket doesn’t win, try to get involved with Senate.

One way or another you can make a difference.