On March 21, freshmen, sophomores and juniors elected next year鈥檚 Student Executive Council members in Spangenberg Theater, following candidate introductions and question-and-answer sessions. Election results were posted on Schoology and the SEC website and Instagram page on March 22.
This year鈥檚 election marked a shift from approval voting, in which students can select multiple candidates, to ranked-choice voting, in which students can still select multiple choices, but ranked in order of preference. SEC also implemented a new vote-tallying system, changed the location and time of the assembly and altered the candidate speech format.
In some ways, it鈥檚 good that there鈥檚 more choice, but (the old system is) a lot easier and takes less time to just choose one candidate.
— Sophomore Asha Iyer-Schulz
Six current SEC officers, all seniors, planned and coordinated the elections process: Associated Student Body President Nathan Levy, ASB Vice President Jazmin Rodrigo, School Board Representative Chris Lee (who is also a managing editor for 麻豆放映免费), ASB Treasurer Leo Yao, Green Commissioner Angelina Rosh and Wellness Commissioner Daniel van Schewick.
According to Levy, the ranked-choice voting system is more representative because it selects the most universally liked candidate. When tabulating votes for contests with more than two candidates, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their second-choice votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates based on the ballot rankings until one candidate reaches a majority. As such, the election winner may be most people鈥檚 second choice if no candidate has a majority of first-choice votes. Levy noted that this voting method encourages candidates to reach out to more people: They can still benefit from convincing students to place them in a higher position, even if it is not first.
Sophomore Asha Iyer-Schulz, however, pointed out some flaws of the new system.
鈥淚n some ways, it鈥檚 good that there鈥檚 more choice, but it鈥檚 a lot easier and takes less time to just choose one candidate,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it mattered much on the results because there weren鈥檛 many candidates for each race and it felt like it was just popularity.鈥�
Alongside the new voting system was a new vote-tallying system. In the past, SEC paid for TallySpace, an online vote-tallying service. This year, however, they began using Google Forms and a free online tally counter. According to Student Activities Director Lisa Hall, Schewick and Web/Tech Commissioner senior Dylan Lu also wrote code to eliminate those who voted multiple times or voted for a different class鈥檚 officers.
Unlike last year, in which the assembly was held during study hall/SELF in Titan Gym, this year鈥檚 election was held twice during a double second period in Spangenberg Theater. Seniors, who were not eligible to vote, had study hall.
During the assembly, rather than giving a speech, each candidate introduced themselves briefly before SEC officers asked them one to three questions specific to the position they were running for. Candidates running unopposed only gave speeches.
According to Levy, all answers were timed strictly so that the assembly would not run over time. Candidates rotated the order that they answered in order to ensure fairness.
Current Freshman Class Vice President and Sophomore Class Vice President-elect Sara Su appreciated this year鈥檚 friendly competition.
鈥淚t was a lot smaller and there were less materials last year,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 cool to see everyone go all out this year like making posters, giving out handouts or making silly campaign videos.鈥�
Your vote does count, and sometimes these races do come down to just a few votes. Even though we don鈥檛 reveal those exact counts, I can assure you that they do matter.
— Student Activities Director Lisa Hall
According to Hall, around 50% of eligible students participate in schoolwide elections every year. She encourages students to exercise their right to vote, especially for classwide elections, which have lower voter participation rates.
鈥淭hese people put themselves forward, and it鈥檚 important for the student body to get to know the candidates, find out what they really stand for and what they think that they can accomplish in the role 鈥� understanding that it鈥檚 a job,鈥� she said. 鈥淵our vote does count, and sometimes these races do come down to just a few votes. Even though we don鈥檛 reveal those exact counts, I can assure you that they do matter.鈥�
