Election Time
By Mark Love ‘16
This week marks the beginning of election season on campus. Prepare to see gaudy promotional signs with smiling candidates plastered on them. Look forward to the propositions and promises that the electoral candidates will declare that will hopefully benefit the school. And keep your ears open for at least one Obamaesque speech to commence. Basically, for the next seven days,candidates will compete to gain the votes of their fellow peers. However, these political hopefuls must adhere to the codes of conduct while running for a position. USC has contrived the Election Codes, a series of rules that each candidate must abide by during election week.
I perused the regulations, and was pretty shocked at how strict the university is as far as signs are concerned. With legions of placards displayed throughout campus today, you would not think that the school would nitpick about posting areas. However, the rules prohibit candidates from putting any election material on trees, the ground, lampposts, on-campus parking lots, nor on the immaculate Tommy Trojan himself. And just in case candidates wanted to get in touch with their artistic side, the rules banned them from using chalk to draw promotional designs on the brick walls and car windshields on campus as well. Oh, and of course the signs cannot have any offensive or threatening language on them. So I’m guessing any poster with 'FIGHT ON’ is out of the question too, right?
The rules don’t stop there either. Normally, when someone is in some sort of competition, they would want their colleagues by their side for support. Well, these political masterminds must rely solely on themselves to win. The Election Codes forbid any member of the USG Elections Commission to “endorse, make a contribution to, or in any manner support any candidates.” That means that candidates cannot rely on their USG posse for support. All they can do is merely vote for their favored politician. Failure to follow the Election Codes will result in conditional sanctions where a candidate can possibly face removal from the voting ballots.
Now that these demands are out in the air, I feel that the stakes have escalated quickly. A friendly political race has turned into a Hunger Games-style crusade. However, I do understand why these rules exist. One must follow the laws of the land before getting the power to propose their own. With that said, students are able to vote next Tuesday, February 10th. Good luck to all the candidates, and may the odds be in your favor!
