Crazy things have happened that you are reading about on our front page. Things that we will get more into tomorrow.
But right now, we have a modest proposal for fixing the absolute insanity that is week one of ASUO elections. Along with the technicolor sea of campaigns Facebook and Twitter become as the campaigns canvass social media for votes, the advent of our University’s students using Twitter has lead them to use the micro-blogging site to air their grievances about the process of ASUO campaigning.

This is my least favorite time of the year….ASUO elections
— Vanessa Kristensen (@vanessaakristen) April 2, 2012

My email is spammed with ASUO election bs.
— Erin Berkey (@eriniselectrikk) April 2, 2012

Can’t wait til this week is over & I don’t have to worry about being harassed about ASUO elections #LeaveMeAlone #BenandLamar
— melanie mcguire (@melaniekorte) April 2, 2012

You know it’s ASUO elections when zigzagging across 13th to avoid people with clipboards becomes a lifestyle #sorryguys
— Mackenzie Clark (@mac_anne_cheese) April 6, 2012

It’s a common complaint every year: Students aren’t particularly pleased with how dogged they are throughout the process of electing representatives. But there’s no easy way to eliminate that amount of face-to-face interaction. Social media campaigning is great, but it won’t garner the same level of impression that an on-campus interaction will.
At the same time, currently the ASUO election system opens the ballot on Monday, 9 a.m., of spring term’s first week. This is the first day that any campaign is allowed to go public with any website, flier, T-shirt or other information. The way we do it makes week one of elections a mess — as the hopefuls vie for votes from students, this is also the first time any of these students have heard of the campaigns.
Consider this: What if we didn’t vote until weeks two and three and kept the same campaigning rules? What if we had a full week where no one voted, and the Elections Board had a week — free of the tension of immediacy — to educate students about the issues on the ballot?
Sure, week two would still have a level of aggressive campaigning, but it would be nowhere near the level it is now. Sure, it would make the elections’ length go from potentially two to potentially three weeks.
But a measure like this would have a serious ability to increase voter turnout and education. Hidden under the layer of “ASUO elections is my least favorite time of year” sounds like an air of confusion and frustration. We at the Emerald spend a lot of time delving into matters of student government as it is a part of our social contract, working for you. But for students who don’t focus on the latest in ASUO politics, one crazy week is all is known about these elected officials.
For those students who want to have their voice heard, but don’t have time or interest to focus on 27 Senate meetings, it seems like the best possible solution is to allow a week of nonpolitical information coupled with political campaigners who aren’t, at that moment, desperate for every vote they can get.
And who knows? Maybe a removal of some amount of stress might just decrease the amount of grievances that need be filed.