As a citizen of this country, it is my patriotic and personal duty to vote in matters of public policy. What I say will help determine how every governmental aspect of my community will be legislated. Being only eighteen, I am not the most seasoned voter. I just walk into the booth, weigh my choices, and flip the switch. The switch is the easy part. Deciding which one to flip is not. Just because I am eighteen does not mean I am without principles. When the Student Government Association presidential elections came around last week, I was in a real bind. From everything that I saw and heard about, I made my decision. I flipped no switch at all.

Keep in mind that this is not an attack on the SGA. This is not an attack on the candidates or President-Elect Jason Miller. This is an attack on the lack of campaigning at Radford University. The reason why I did not vote is because I had nothing to think about. I had no idea what each candidate was for or against. There were no posters or any kind of propaganda at all. While this sounds a bit superficial, there is a philosophical base to it.

In America, we vote on an image. It’s something that strikes a particular chord with the voter. When Jim Gilmore was running for governor, he told the voters that he would “cut the car tax.” Well, the car tax is still there, but that is beside the point. He got the attention of the voters. Then he could expound upon his agenda for the state should he be elected. Don Beyer did the same thing. It would appear that Gilmore did better since he is now our governor. Gilmore must have wanted for Virginia what a lot of voters wanted for Virginia.

I do not know what Kevin Camm or Jason Miller wanted for Radford University. I am sure Camm had the greatest of intentions, and so did Miller. I am looking forward seeing how the SGA keeps shop with Miller as the headman of the group. I wish I knew right now, which is the sad thing.

There was a televised debate the day before the election. I am glad this happened. I am saddened that a huge portion of the campus did not know about it. Honestly, who watches that channel for a long period of time? I know I don’t. I don’t know anyone who watches it regularly. The only effective form of advertising for this event was word-of-mouth. The word didn’t get around too well. If I had known about this debate, I would have watched it. I learned about it the day of the election, the same day that I learned who the candidates were.

While trying to walk to Dalton for lunch, I was confronted by a large, friendly-looking guy. He asked me, “Have you voted yet?” “No, I haven’t,” I replied. “Well, when you do, vote for Jason Miller.” I said, “Okay.” Too bad that was a lie. I had no reason to vote for him or Camm. I didn’t know what they wanted for the school. I hate to use this term, but the aforementioned approach to getting voters is nothing short of a popularity contest. Now, I realize that getting the attention of someone with a certain issue makes one popular, but having someone say “Vote for So and So” and telling me what this person will do for the campus are two completely different things.

James Hetfield was wrong when he said, “It’s not who you are, it’s who you know.” Next time, plaster the campus with flyers and campaign buttons. The students of this university have a right to know what each candidate has to offer. For me, all I had to vote with was a name. In the western hemisphere, a name is baggage. The words “Bob Smith” don’t tell me a darn thing. Get some information out on these candidates’ proposed agendas at least a month in advance. I’ll vote. Will you?

Name: jeff
Comments:
Wow, guys, this is great. I am so glad that I was pretty much wrong. However, I must be blind as a bat because I never saw hide nor hair of you before the day of election. Also, I would like to clarify that I learned of the televised debate the day AFTER it was held. Nonetheless, I am pleased that there was a lot more campaigning than was apparent to me. :) Keep reading.

Name: Kevin Camm
Year: Junior
Major: Political Science
Comments:
Jeff - The article was good, but how can you say that the students didn't know about anything? You knew about the debate as you mentioned in your article, but even after that you still didn't know anything about the elections and what both Jason and I stood for. If you can enlighten us to how we can advertise and get people to vote - LET US KNOW. I am not going to force a person to vote and I thank every single one of the people that did. Next year, since you have a strong opinion about it, why don't you take a minute to learn about the candidates; call them, e-mail them, talk to them. Then, at least, one person that who didn't vote will vote because he/she took it upon his or herself to LEARN. Stay merry...

Name: Jason Miller
Year: Sophomore
Major: Social Sciences
Comments:
This article alarms me because it isn't 100 percent true. It says that there were no flyers or buttons, that the candidates didn't tell you what they wanted to do, when in fact I gave out 500 stickers, 300 buttons, 1,000 fact booklets and as many flyers. The facts are that it's hard to reach a lot of students on a campus this size. Take national politics for example, we see George Bush and Al Gore on TV everyday, but the Tartan only printed one section about the elections and that was because SGA paid them to do so(by buying a add). The SGA also had to pay ROC TV to air the debate. You also said that you didn't know about the debate, this is also false because Dr.Pomerantz sent out a campus wide email to ALL students. The facts are that Kevin and I both wanted to win badly and it wasn't a mere fact of us not campaiging. Speaking for myself I spoke to most of the bigger organizations,and most of the on campus to tell them what I wanted to do if elected. I also put my stickers,and buttons on as many people as I could afford. It cost me almost $300 to do the campaigning I did. Not to mention that the $300 dollars was out of my own pocket, not contributed through a PAC or anything like a real election. To sum it up I'm sorry that more students didn't vote, I tried to reach as many of them as possible but some just didn't care to vote. However, I am happy about the good number of students that we had vote and I look forward to a very productive year next year, I also invite all of you who want to know what SGA is about to join the staff. Please help us represent you. We are doing our best just meet us in the middle. Thank you

Name: Dave Shifflett
Year: Senior
Major: INSY
Comments:
You know, it is a shame that people do not practice their right to vote. Even if it is on a campus level. So many of the population over the age of 25 does not vote, that if all of us between the ages of 18 and 25 DID actually vote, we would have such an enormous enfluence on the outcome of any kind of elections. what is still more irritating, is that the right to vote that we take for granted is a right that men and women gave their lives for so many years ago. I would bet money that if the government were to take away that right, THEN everyone would riot and throw a fit. There is truth to the saying that you don't know what you have until it is gone. And one may blame the reason that he/she does not vote on lack of advertising and information however, the street runs both ways. As a responisble voter it is also your job to check out what the candidates have to offer. Simply waiting for them to tell you everything isn't going to get one anywhere. Election ads, posters, etc, are intended to spark interest, and finding out the details is partly up to the voter. Obviously a flyer or a sign is only going to tell you so much about the candidate. Like you said Jeff, going to the debates or watching them on TV is a way to start. As we all know, RU has a serious problem promoting just about ANY major event. I sure as hell didn't see any posters or signs for the Redman/Methodman concert, and even less for the SGA elections. So that definitely doesn't help any either. And when you live off campus? You are even less likely to recieve any of that kind of information. Anyway, I'm running on here. Good article Jeff, you have some great points.

Comments:
I sure didn't know who the candidates were. All i ever saw was "RU 4 Miller?" Who is he? I am sure he is a nice guy, but the students had no idea who he was. I did not vote for that reason. Thank You

Name: maureen wiedel
Year: Junior
Major: LESE
Comments:
The tartan featured articles on both candidates the week before. It presented the candidates experience in student government and their expectaions of the position. It's a shame you missed it, because it gave a good over view of what they stand for.

Name: Brian Korte
Year: senior
Major: Advertsing media studies
Comments:
I've lived a long time now, and I'll tell you, Jeff. It SHOULDN'T be that way, where "it's not what you know but who you know"... But you know what? I've come to find that in order to reach the masses, it is just so. It shouldn't matter what a president looks like, but you know very well that Roosevelt would never havemade it to office if people knew he was in a wheelchair. (and like James Hetfield says, "That's sad, but true.). Jason and Kevin were both featured (along with others) in the Tartan, but I agree with you in one respect... The Tartan's distribution doenst' reach everyone. Nothing really can. SGA was covered on TV and print. Whim started a bulletin board thread about SGA elections, and got little to no response at all. There aren't many other avenues short of door-to-door knocking, and we all know how annoying that is. I'm sure some still did THAT though! There's just no way to break through to all students here on campus short of pinning the people's names and beliefs to the professor's ass....but then there are those like me who never go to class, so that wouldn't help either...