Editorial Staff

For the 40th time in SUNY Buffalo State history, the student body will vote for the peers who will represent us in the United Students (with an “s” at the end) Government.

The USG elections will be held from Monday, March 28 through Wednesday, March 30 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Thursday, March 31 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Campbell Student Union lower lobby. Registered undergraduate students are eligible to vote and should bring some form of ID.

Some students will vote, but that’s not enough. Student participation in elections has been low for the past two years. Of the approximately 12,000 students attending Buffalo State, only 609 (five percent, the lowest turnout since 2010) voted in 2014’s elections, and 1,139 (nine percent) in 2015.

While voter turnout from last year was nearly double 2014’s, it’s only a marginal improvement. The fact that only nine percent of our student body votes for the peers who represent us is alarming and, quite honestly, embarrassing. Elected officials have control over a budget of over $1 million that all students collectively pay for.

We need to continue improving our voter turnout if we want to elect the people who are best suited to bring about positive change to our college experience. Otherwise, the complaints of many students will be left unanswered.

Whoever is elected is the direct result of student voters. It’s not like there’s an Electoral College for USG that somehow influences the elections. It is directly and solely up to us, the voters.

Platforms are crucial to a candidate’s chances at being elected. Therefore, The Record has chosen to run each candidate’s platform submission exactly as it was sent to us. So, that means not fixing punctuation errors or adding a space in between periods and at the start of a new sentence.

Platforms that contain tons of basic spelling and grammar errors show that candidates couldn’t even bother to run their platforms through a proofreader before sending them to The Record.

Also, many candidates decided that USG stands for “United Student Government,” opposed to the correct name, “United Students Government.” That’s a bold strategy, Cotton.

If you’re going to apply for a position anywhere, make sure you spell the name of the business or organization correctly. This may speak volumes as to how candidates will handle elected duties.

We know mistakes happen – our readers point out our blunders on a weekly basis. But there’s a difference between mistakes and plain carelessness.

For example, one candidate decided to send in a platform that was, well, just one sentence long. Another candidate actually sent in a platform over 800 words, but was asked to cut it down. Who would you rather have in office?

Don’t tell us, answer that question during election week.