Students should abstain from voting when they deem it necessary

Over the past week, I have received several e-mails and Facebook messages urging me to do one thing: vote in the Vassar Student Association (VSA) elections. The logic behind these pleas is simple: Our representatives in the VSA will play a major role in shaping our lives and our futures at Vassar, and as such, we need to ensure that we vote for the candidates who are best equipped for the job and best fit our own views. As I reviewed the candidate statements for this week's VSA elections, I seriously began to doubt the importance of voting when I noticed two problems with this year's election cycle: a lack of competition and a lack of seriousness.

Fortunately, many of the most important positions—in particular, all of the positions on the VSA Executive and Judicial Boards—were highly competitive. These positions were sought by some of the most motivated students, all of whom wrote thoughtful candidate statements detailing their positions on the important issues currently facing the College. These races were perfect examples of what voting should be—distinctions need to be made between candidates in order for a vote to have any meaning.

In contrast, many committee positions were largely uncompetitive. Many positions only had one person running—the Library Committee, the Sustainability Committee and the Drug and Alcohol Education Committee were all uncontested races.

There probably is not much to do about the lack of competitiveness, and I'm not sure if it is even a problem that we should try to remedy. Vassar students are obviously all involved in a variety of commitments. If they are disinterested in these positions or too busy to hold a position in student government, why should we try to coerce them further? I would much rather have fewer candidates who are truly passionate about and dedicated to their roles in student government than a surplus of candidates who are running for the hell of it. In these situations, lack of competition can be a good thing.

Lack of competition is a problem, however, when students running for seats do not take their candidacy or their future role in student government seriously enough. I was irritated to read some of the candidate statements from this past election cycle, which on occasion demonstrated a complete lack of thought and trivialized the VSA and its functions.

In the candidate statements for my own Class Council—the Class of 2011—I was disheartened to see the apparent ambivalence of some students toward their own candidacy. One contender for President wrote his candidate statement in a juvenile acrostic format. I assume he was running as a joke—and I really hope he was.

Luckily, it was relatively harmless because there were more serious candidates competing for the same position. But we are not always so fortunate in our quest for adequate representation. One only needs to look at the race for Vice President of 2011 to see the result of a lack of serious, qualified candidates. This position had only one competitor, who submitted a sentence-long statement that didn't detail her positions and qualifications. It was announced on Tuesday, April 28, that she had won this position.

Not to make too much of this one instance, but if we are meant to take the VSA seriously as our governing body, should we not strive to elect candidates who show that they take the VSA seriously, as well? I would wager that a candidate who cannot even be bothered to write an adequate statement would be equally nonchalant in performing his or her role satisfactorily. Although, to be fair to the aforementioned candidates, they did at least bother to write something; other contenders did not submit a statement.

While I know this year's election cycle is over, I would like to put out a plea to Vassar students for future elections. Candidates, please ensure that your campaigns reflect an eagerness and capability to adequately address the demands of your office. 

And to students, please vote, but only if you really mean it. You don't have to vote for an uncontested candidate, and you certainly shouldn't if you think they aren't right for the job. There is a lovely little box—the one marked "no"—that allows you to abstain from voting on a given position if you find that to be the best course of action. I think that if more people utilized that box when necessary, we would ultimately be happier with our student government.

—Angela Aiuto is a sophomore writing about issues on Vassar's campus. She is the Opinions Editor.