If you haven't yet voted in the Winter 2008 WSA Elections, there's still time. The polls close at 11:59 PM on Friday night, so make sure to visit the WSA homepage before it's too late. Don't put it off until Friday night - you don't want to get disenfranchised by your drunken stupor...
It seems this time around that Wesleyan students might actually care who gets elected to the WSA. Thanks to OEAC (the Organization and External Affairs Committee)'s publicity drive, not only do people know there's an election going on, but they even know who's running in it.
Does that mean more people are going to vote? One thing that might get in the way is some confusion surrounding the three different elections. A few people have mentioned that they don't feel comfortable voting to fill a position they have no idea about. One person was so perplexed by the SBC election that he just threw his vote away on a random write-in. So, without further ado, here's your
Handy-Dandy 2008 Winter Election Guide!
There are 13 open seats this election:
- 3 Frosh reps
- 5 At-large reps (upper classes)
- 5 SBC members
The SBC election is different, which is a potential source of confusion. The Student Budget Committee opens up a majority of its seats to direct election by the student body every winter to ensure that its members are held accountable. This extra layer of accountability is critical because the SBC allocates the Student Activities Fee to recognized student groups on campus; since everybody pays this fee, there needs to be a way for students outside of the WSA to take control of it midway through the year if they feel like it's being abused or mismanaged. We're talking about the well over $700,000 which Spring Fling, the Argus, WESU, Second Stage and pretty much every other student group/activity depend on.
Now that you know why the election's run the way it is, go out and vote!
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