Yes
by Iris Diggle
Do you painstakingly sift through the EUSA emails flooding your university inbox? Do you walk between lectures, not with headphones in, but earnestly reading the swathes of posters lining campus noticeboards?
If you answered no to these questions, then I fear that the recent EUSA elections might have gone entirely over your head.
I can’t have been the only one to have noticed that EUSA has had to scrape the barrel in its search for ways to get us engaged in campus democracy. Just go to the Potterrow café between pre-lunch lectures, and you will see queues of people claiming their free hot beverage for having merely cast a ballot.
I think it’s time for a bit less carrot and a little more stick: all students should be made to cast a vote in the student elections.
How much of the university experience is compulsory, anyway? We have little to complain about on that front; even graduation ceremonies are optional endeavours.
Compulsory voting would force us all to dabble in campus politics, however fleetingly, and have a say on the matters we regularly complain about. Moreover, improved engagement with the only campus-wide elections would probably broaden the pool of candidates itself.
Many – including The Student – have questioned the relevance of EUSA. Compulsory voting in campus elections would bring our Students’ Association back to where it should be – at the front and centre of the university experience.
No
by Ross Doran
EUSA’s election turnout, although uncharacteristically high this year, was still a pitiful 14 per cent. While I understand the desperate need to boost election turnout, meaningful engagement in student politics is far more important.
The problem with EUSA elections is that few people believe that the outcome meaningfully affects their lives and, as a result, do not take their vote seriously.
Instead of promoting meaningful engagement, compulsory voting will lead students to treat elections as a superficial box-ticking exercise, selecting candidates purely on who looks like the best leaders, those from similar backgrounds, or simply just their friends. Even now, people blindly follow the lead of influential society endorsements, only committing to voting when the outcome will have a direct effect.
The outsized influence of subconscious bias will have a dramatic impact.
Equally, abstaining from voting is also political, demonstrating frustration with EUSA, the candidates, or even just the University itself.
Rather than compulsory voting, EUSA should demonstrate why and how it matters, convincing people to vote because of its impact on their lives at University and, perhaps, its influence more broadly. Engage with students, help them understand why student politics matters. If we trust in it, real change can be brought about. Only when students understand this will we see any meaningful engagement in EUSA elections.
