Elections: WILD GOOSE CHASE?

It was playtime for election campaign teams yesterday afternoon as they rushed around concourse trying to complete a ‘scavenger hunt’ (click below) organised by the current team of Sabbs.  A little early for Easter, maybe?

Click to enlarge: the sheet which launched a thousand ships

The cat plans to file a lawsuit.

According to dismal reports of turnout since voting opened, it seems the only students experiencing a rush of dizzy excitement during this campaign period were those at Monday night Jesters.

This ‘scavenger hunt’ awarded points for glamorous outreach activities such as “video of a stranger saying they’ll vote in the SUSU elections” (good luck with that, it seems) and “picture with the SUSU cat”, the aim being to raise awareness of the elections with bizarre activities on campus.

Isn’t that the sort of thing the campaign teams are supposed to come up with themselves?  Instead, they’ve obviously had to be mothered through the whole process.

Rumour has it that the activity was organised by current President Sam Ling, himself a candidate for a second term after he almost ran unopposed.  Two other current Sabbs, Sasha Watson and Shane Murphy, are running for re-election this year.  To have so many Sabbs doing this is something of a record, and there has been some debate over whether it has stifled the enthusiasm of their rivals—as well as the (un)fairness of the current two-year maximum.

The sheet ends with a somewhat plaintive cry:

we need to put some fun back into these elections.

The sense of desperation is palpable, but who to blame is unclear.  It’s not like this event, which has so much potential for flashmob-style attention-grabbing, has been at all publicised by the Sabb team to the student body.  It might well end up being a complete waste of time.

And any lay-students reading this?  Get informed and get voting at www.susu.org/elections