The bill being heard before the Government of the Student Body to allow student organized parties in GSB elections is about getting people involved in our GSB senate elections.

Our senate elections at Iowa State are almost always uncontested and many times do not even attract one candidate. In fact, in most cases the major obstacle to being elected as a GSB senator is paying a $10 filing fee and obtaining 100 petition signatures.

Once you are on the ballot, you are almost certain to be elected. This lack of competition in GSB Senate elections lessens the interest the student body takes in the election and makes our election process seem irrelevant to many students.

The main advantage of student organized parties is their potential to offer students choices of candidates. Just like in any election, when people are not presented with choices, participation will be low.

I am assuming that when students organize parties they will recruit candidates to run for Senate positions. Recruiting like-minded people to serve in government is a basic function of political parties.

If several parties recruit senate candidates, the chance for contested Senate elections is more likely, as are results that more likely reflect the wishes of a broad group of constituents.

This year’s election showed us the GSB executive race can attract many students to vote. While participation and interest in the executive race was much higher than normal, the senate races attracted little to no interest. The exception was the one contested senate race for the College of Agriculture’s two seats.

Student organized parties would allow a link between the executive and senate races to be formed, encouraging more participation in senate races, because candidates in both elections would be identified under the same banner.

For instance if you agree with the platform of Party A, chances are you would probably like to vote for the senate candidate from Party A, even if you do not know much else about that candidate.

When this sort of identification takes place you have voters who are identifying with ideas rather than names.

If GSB is not willing to at least try a solution that could increase participation in the GSB senate elections, then I believe they should stop holding senate elections. We should just invest the entire process in the constituency councils and have them appoint a GSB senator for their respective constituency.

While this may seem undemocratic, it would demand more accountability from student government than our current system. However, I would prefer to improve the system we have now, and encouraging student organized parties would help us work toward the goal of more participation in GSB elections.

Finally, anyone who has attended a meeting of GSB knows there are plenty of issues and problems that bring out divergent viewpoints and stances. There are even voting blocks closely resembling political parties already present in GSB.

The recent debates over PIRG, the student group financing process, and the Readership Program are a few easy examples to highlight where political parties may have served a useful purpose. Student organized parties would offer students more practical information to discern which candidates hold their viewpoints. This is ultimately how we choose our leaders who represent us on a variety of governmental levels.

Clint Fichter

GSB Election Commissioner