Signing for Nothing
“Hi, I am running for DC committee/StuCo secretary/upper rep, so could you please…”
“Sure.” I took the signing sheet from his or her hand before the sentence was finished. Locating a numbered row that is empty, I scribbled my legal name and simplified signature. This was the fifth occurrence of the day, after all.
“I don’t really get it. What’s the point of requiring signatures?” I asked.
“Um… I guess they are trying to make sure that not everyone can run for this position and that those who run have enough student support as well.”
Pause here.
As we all know, for all sorts of school elections, students are required to collect a certain number of signatures and compose a candidate statement to be eligible for candidacy. Personally, I don’t have any experience in running for a position during my time at Exeter so far, but I am not convinced that these points make sense.
First of all, while others may argue that determination and passion are important prerequisites to take on responsibilities of the leading roles of our school, I believe that collecting signatures is not the best way to reflect these qualities. The kind of devotion needed for these positions is obviously very different from loafing around D-hall, Agora, dorms or classrooms during free time, asking for signatures. Using the number of signatures as a measurement of so-called “determination” or “passion” is therefore a ridiculous idea. Also, Exonians look for the ability and willingness to tackle the issues of our school and to organize events for fellow students as the real qualities they want in candidates; signature-collection is clearly not a good indicator of those qualities. On the other hand, the candidate statement and campaign are sufficient in conveying the candidate’s goals and plans, while the votes reflect the trust and support he or she has in the student body. In this sense the signatures seem unnecessary for the election process.
Secondly, although the original intention for the requirement may have been to examine the candidate’s student support, it is almost a well-known truth that our signatures don’t necessarily mean that “we really want him or her to be a candidate.” When we are asked to sign, we usually, if not always, agree only because it’s not a big deal for us and because we don’t want to appear mean or inconsiderate. If a student comes to any table in D-hall with his or her signature sheet, he or she will hardly ever fail to collect signatures from every single person at the table (unless someone has already signed before or is not eligible for signing in cases of class rep elections). The signature has truly lost its value and become a simple exercise in signing one’s signature.
Moreover, the signature requirement can also have some negative impacts on the election. For many Exonians, this requirement merely discourages them from trying to participate in this beneficial experience to serve the student population. This will potentially cause the candidate pool to be smaller than it could have been, which may prevent us from voting for a few truly eligible students; the consequence is thus obvious. The process of checking for validity of signatures also results in a significant waste of man-power, which could be saved for other more important tasks. Collecting signatures is not only a useless and pretentious step in the election process, but also a saddening burden on all the ambitious student candidates.
“I still don’t get it.”