School Elections: Are they a Popularity Contest?

Only the high school students voting for Student Government can really tell someone the motives behind why they elect a peer into office. While the idea of the elections being based on popularity may seem far-fetched to some, to others it’s simply fact.

When Alexis Mitchnick, the Senior Vice President, was asked about whether or not she believed popularity played a role in her election, she stated “No, I don’t believe this. I hope that people voted me for Vice President because they believed I would put in the effort to do my best in representing the Senior Class,” but this thought did not occur to everyone casting a ballot. Some students openly admitted that their votes were completely dependent upon whom they liked the most.

While voter Alexandra Genovese stated, “I always vote for the person I think will do the best job, no matter who is running”, voter Anna Mastrandrea readily admitted that her evaluation of the candidates as people and their levels of likability did strongly influence her decision.

This contrast is a clear indicator that there is no clean-cut, concise answer to what goes on in a voter’s mind while electing people into their school positions. However, we can say that a job description, followed by who he or she feels is best suited, is not consistently it.

“Instead of asking what Student Government does for our grade, you should ask what Student Government doesn’t do for our grade,” said Senior Secretary Brooke Camarda when asked about the role of the Student Government as a whole.

The Student Government is involved in everything from Homecoming, to Prom, to dealing with the School Administration when the grade is upset about something. Considering the devastating loss the Seniors felt at this year’s Homecoming, if voting people into Student Government is based on popularity now, maybe it shouldn’t be in the future.