Choose or lose. Exercise your right. Be smart. Do your part. Rock the vote. We all know the slogans designed to draw citizens to the polls. But, Ags, we’re not rocking or exercising or choosing enough here.
In student elections, with a student body topping 48,000, only about 30 percent of students took two minutes to cast a ballot in 2009’s election, and yet it set a record for the University. For a school that touts activism and participation, it is disappointing that only 15,000 students vote.
However, the number was a boost from 2008 where only 8,000 students voted. That is roughly the amount of freshman this year at A&M. Next week, we will get a second chance to make our choice because, like in the years before us, we have a run-off. Because, like in years before, too few of us voted, and no candidate could receive the more than 50 percent of votes required to win.
Before we break another voting record, we need to get to know these two candidates. One of the two is poised to become your representative and your voice to the administration. Author Gore Vidal once said, “Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for president. One hopes it is the same half.” An uninformed vote isn’t a vote at all, and while it’s easy for us to complain about A&M, it’s just as easy to do something about it.