The results of last week’s hotly contested and sometimes bitterly fought student government primary election are in: ASUO Executive candidates Todd Mann and Jontea Grace will face Jared Axelrod and Juliana Guzman in the general election this week.
Despite the early schedule for the election, which took place during the first week after spring break, 3,946 students voted, the most in recent memory. We commend this high level of participation.
Now both tickets are likely focusing on gathering support from the failed campaigns of Dallas Brown-Emily McLain and Jacob Daniels-Amy DuFour. Last year, candidates Daniels, Nick Hudson and David Goward threw their support behind Walsh and helped him win. In return, Daniels was appointed to the PFC, Hudson received a spot in the Executive as finance coordinator and Goward became programs administrator.
Daniels is back to the endorsement business this year, having already thrown his weight into the Mann-Grace corner. This could easily help swing the election in Mann’s favor, especially considering that only 78 votes separated this year’s primary winners. Last year, Ashley Rees and Jael Anker-Lagos led the primaries by 462 votes. Coincidentally, Rees is Axelrod’s campaign manager.
Hudson on Friday resigned from the administration, calling student government a “joke” and criticizing Walsh and Coy for hiring political insiders, failing to follow student government rules and not living up to their campaign promises. His situation represents the dangers of endorsements. But what are students to really make of his 5-page resignation letter and harsh words?
Foremost, the document must be viewed in its political context. Hudson, who supported his girlfriend, DuFour, in this year’s primary, clearly wants to defend her from recent allegations about her role on the Student Senate. And although he says the ASUO is full of “insiders,” he admits he is one of them. He says “shame on you” to student leaders for “using your positions for political reasons.” His resignation appears to be just such a move.
Hudson does not clearly support claims that the Executive is “permeated with continued practices of all ASUO Executives, including continued breaking of ASUO rules, policies and guidelines.” As a self-identified insider, we urge him to illuminate such ills if they exist.
There is merit to Hudson’s claim that “(students) believe the ASUO Executive is working for a select few people who benefit from useless policies and personal aggrandizement.” By its very nature, the Executive is forced to build coalitions of powerful students groups to get out the vote. Like the federal Executive, it often repays these favors.
Have Walsh and Coy caved to special interests more than past executives? We have not seen such evidence, and they have been more pragmatic and open than many of their predecessors. Yet does student government still represent a select few? It certainly does, and that’s where voting plays a key role.
The diversity of students will only be represented in government when more than 10 to 20 percent of students care enough to vote. Voter turnout is historically lower in general elections than primary elections, and we urge more students to take five minutes to vote this week.