Combat Zone

Letter to the Editor: systemic inequality in ASUPS elections

I write to you in protest of the insane ASUPS voting system here at Puget Sound. As a freshman, I was just recently introduced to the University and its elected student body. When I tried to vote for the officer candidates online, I found out something pretty interesting. Turns out our votes are weighed by class rank. That’s right: sophomore votes count more than freshman, etc. Seriously, do you guys even know that? Am I the only one who voted? I thought it was just coincidence that all the candidates I picked won, but now I’m not so sure.
Anyway, here’s the real issue. I’m sure you upperclassmen find it gosh darn hilarious that you’re more important than us. Did you know, though, that the postgrads also get a say? And how about this: the voting system weights by class rank, and the postgrads’ entered rank is just a null set, since they’ve all already graduated. Therefore, their votes count for infinity. What the hell? This is not a joke. Our 200 some physical therapy students quite literally get a vote that counts for the highest possible mathematical value of a number. For the English majors, what I just said translates to “way more than you can count on your fingers and toes.”
How did this come to pass? Are we really so neglectful of the ASUPS elections that no one is aware that we have a super-duper enfranchised minority? The best part is, as far as I can tell, none of these postgrads actually ended up voting. Hell, I doubt they even know they can. Or that ASUPS exists.
This is a good thing. If two of them voted, and for the same candidate, we’d have a candidate with a vote count twice the value of infinity. I have a sneaking suspicion that this would literally destroy the Internet, and potentially create a rift in the time-space continuum. So thank goodness for our incredible social indifference, I guess. And since the only thing Puget Sound students do less than vote is read The Trail, I have little hope of anything changing.
So enjoy your day. I’ll be checking things off my bucket list in the unlikely case we get a pair of postgrads who give a shit and end up creating a black hole from the angry math gods.

Sincerly,
Adriana Brodo
Class of 2016