The Martlet

It’s election time again for the UVic Students’ Society (UVSS) — an exciting time of year for that 18.8 per cent of the student population that actually votes in the elections. However, for the 81.2 per cent who chose not to vote, we have a question for you: why the apathy?

Instead of just plain ol’ not caring about the UVSS elections this year, we have a better suggestion: stop by one of the many poll stations around campus and spoil your ballot.

We all know the elections are just a silly event, and who wins doesn’t make a lick of difference, right? After all, the combined total of $1.2 million in student fees we pay each year to the UVSS is really just chump change. And who cares what the four executive directors we vote in will do for the measly $27,000 each we, the student body, will pay them next year?

Besides, it’s not like the UVSS directors deal with any important topics. In recent memory they’ve wasted time and resources on such trivial issues as banning the military, stamping out pro-life clubs, circulating petitions and counter-petitions on our membership in the Canadian Federation of Students and spending nearly $300,000 to renovate Bean There and surrounding areas in the Student Union Building (SUB).

And we all know SUB events are lame, no matter who’s planning them. Really, we might as well have a bunny as director-of-services. Even if SUB parties used to sell out before we temporarily lost our liquor license thanks to the fiasco in 2006, no one really goes to the Battle of the Bands or the UVic Idol events, right?

Even if we do vote, nothing’s going to change. These candidates are all the same. They just sit there knitting and gossiping at board meetings, oblivious of the needs of the student population. Or maybe oblivious is too kind — they know, but they just don’t care as long as the paycheques keep rolling in.

So instead of doing nothing this election cycle, get out and protest the pointlessness of this election. Spoil your ballot. There are many ways to do so. Check off directors-at-large at will. Hey, you’re only allowed 11, but if you check off 12 or more you’ve successfully spoiled that ballot. Heck, check off all the candidates. Check off none of the candidates. Place your X anywhere that doesn’t denote a vote for a candidate, or don’t mark it at all.

You could even get your true sentiments across by writing “Change the system” on the ballot. It probably won’t happen, but at least you’ve participated in our student democracy.

Use voting as a creative outlet. Election supplements are long and boring. Actually bothering to read platforms to pick out candidates wastes time that could be better spent on Facebook. Instead, just write a haiku on your ballot, or sketch some of those adorable UVic bunnies.

So go ahead. Spoil your ballot. Protest this ridiculous shame of a democracy. After all, it is just meaningless student politics. Nothing’s going to change, right?

But at least a spoiled ballot is a cast ballot. And, if enough spoiled ballots show up in the ballot box, maybe our student politicians will finally understand that we’re tired of them acting like spoiled brats.