Is voting in SU elections a complete waste of time?

Voting for the SU elections ends tonight. But in the countdown to the final result, the questions need to be asked: does it even amount to anything? Does it work? Do we give a shit?

Faith Thompson – Keeping The Faith

You are not above it. When you enrol at a university you become part of its internal and external population. There is no harm in immersing yourself to a bitta politics and the running of large institutions.

Taking pride in your university’s image and the direction you want it to go in is part of the experience of going there. Voting in the SU elections is a great example of how you can do this. Good on the candidates for showing passion on issues that affect us: the least we can do in return is attempt to care and vote. It’s still good to care about things, especially things you spend £9,000 a year on.

You’re going to be voting for the rest of your life anyway. It’s great practice for when we have to vote in the general election – voting is such a strong mechanism in the democratic process, get used to it. Familiarise yourself with the way voting works and become savvy with jargon-infested manifestos.

Getting your voice heard at University will probably affect you more directly than anything else you vote for. The president of the SU and the SU body will represent the university on a professional level. The current SU president, Cat Turhan, is publically against pay rises for the Vice Chancellor, publishing on the SU website that “the marketisation of education affects us all”. If you think this is bollocks then vote against it, instead of complaining about “our lefty wefty student union”. Conversely, if you agree bloody vote and show support.

And voting is, actually, a privilege. This may seem far-fetched in this blanket of modernity in which we are all comfortably wrapped, but voting is not something to be taken for granted. They may seem like just SU elections, but voting history stands for a lot more. If for no other reason, vote in respect for those who suffered in order for you to wake up late, forget to vote and just simply take for granted the democratic process.

George Lawlor – Laying Down The Lawlor

Let’s be honest, there are better things you could be doing. Instead of spending hours of your precious time sifting through the candidates’ manifestos and tediously altering your preferences, why not fall in love with Netflix all over again, leave the seclusion of your room and enjoy the company of your friends? Or why not just get the most out of your money and do some work?

Student politicians are mental. They’re either ruthlessly Machiavellian and would drown a sack of kittens if it they thought they could get a vote out of it, or they’re Chavez fanboys who dream of leading the unwashed masses into the vice chancellor’s office.· Sabbatical candidates are not the sort of people you want representing you. These are just people who are scared of going into the real world and want to stay in the bubble for another year.

There are only a handful of people who can vote for all of the positions. For example, unless you self-define as female, you can’t vote for the Women’s Officer position. What’s the alternative? There is none. There is no Men’s Officer up for election, because apparently feminism only means equality for some people.

And what has the SU really done for you? Fuck all, so ignore the candidates’ promises, they’re bullshit. These people don’t care about change, they want the £19,000 that comes with the job. Even if they did want to make a noticeable difference it wouldn’t work. Look at the candidates’ policies and ask yourself whether or not they are realistic. Like the Marxism that inspires so many policies, many election pledges prove to be utter rubbish.

Faith or George? Who gets your vote?