Last week, we talked about the 10 Types of Student Council Candidates. Right now, let’s talk about you, you as a voter in a student council election.
We all have and had our fair share as a voter in this exciting season of a school year because some of us are interested to engage in the discourse or, simply, to be entertained. Whatever it is, it is also important for us to dissect the behavior of voters who actually decide the fate of a student council election.
Having an experience of being a candidate and a voter, here are the 10 Types of Student Council Voters:
1 The Curious Voter
This voter usually puts down her pen and phone and listens to the candidates speaking in front of her/him. S/he tries to understand the platform, sometimes even takes down notes. S/he also asks relevant questions.
2 The Triggered Voter
This voter brings color to the campaign season. S/he usually begins asking a fiery and controversial question that will make a candidate fall into a trap. S/he easily gets mad when s/he doesn’t hear the exact words that s/he wants to hear. Yup, this is the kind of voter that candidates wouldn’t want to deal with if they want to maintain their composure for the whole day, or the entire campaign period for that matter.
3 The ‘NR’ (No Reaction) Voter
This voter just gives zero f*ck. Even though a candidate tries to give her/his best to get this voter’s attention, s/he won’t give a damn. S/he will just face her/his plates or continue computing or reading some books or just text. But, of course, candidates will still continue talking even if they’re just like conversing with a wall.
4 The Opportunist Voter
This voter makes sure that the campaign season is the perfect opportunity for Professors to not be able to continue with their classes. The usual and the always 10-minute room-to-room campaign either stretches to half of the class period or, worse, the entire class period. This voter either genuinely asks relevant questions or just keeps on asking unnecessary questions just to delay everything.
5 The Friend-of-Opponent Voter
All candidates have their own campaign-support teams. These teams are composed of the candidate’s close friends, orgmates, etc. So this type of voter will make sure that if the candidate speaking is their friend’s opponent, s/he will grill the candidate and make the candidate appear clueless and underserving to win the post.
6 The Not-Really-Voting Voter
This person appears to be very active in asking questions during room-to-room campaigns and even posts a lot of student council elections-related materials on social media, but, in the end, despite the efforts of candidates to reach out to this voter, the truth is that this person will not really vote on election day, for various reasons of course – either s/he has not met any deserving candidate or maybe s/he just really doesn’t want to vote for anybody at all.
7 The Neutral Voter
This voter is the ideal voter. S/he is open-minded, sets aside her/his biases, and always strikes a balance when engaging with the candidates. Her/his questions are helpful not only for the candidates but also for his/her fellow voters.
8 The Fan Voter
In any student council election, candidates suddenly become personalities. They are instantly the talk-of-the-town, or of the campus for that matter. There are voters who admire ideal candidates because of their intelligence, wit, substance, and even looks. This voter makes sure to know when their idolized candidates will visit their classroom, and will even stalk them in other classrooms. S/he is also updated with the social media behavior of her/his preferred candidates. Sometimes, this voter even knows the personal affairs of the candidates. Quite creepy, if you ask me.
9 The Closed-Minded Voter
Candidates cannot, certainly and definitely, please everybody. This kind of voter will never be pleased because to begin with s/he has already closed her/his mind to entertain other candidates aside from her/his candidates. Even if candidates present this voter a logical or sometimes a better platform, s/he will just debunk it and treat it like trash.
10 The I’m-Better-Than-You Voter
This voter may sound ideal whenever s/he asks questions. However, sometimes this voter just wants to show off that s/he is way better than the candidate. Maybe next time, try to file your certificate of candidacy?
So, there you go, these are the 10 types of student council voters that we may all experience in our annual student council election campaign. Students, as voters, dictate the results, and this is kind of a huge responsibility whether or not they want to have an active student body that is engaging inside and outside of their campuses.
To all voters – be considerate. While candidates are there to ask you a favor, remember that like you, they are also students. They too have exams, problems, etc., but they chose another path to serve the studentry and the community. Before thinking of embarrassing them just for your interests or caprices, remember all the stress that they undergo during the campaign season.
Finally, please vote, and please vote wisely. Bad officials are elected by good people who do not vote, or vote for the wrong people.