I’m excited that the EcoPass was passed and De Anza College students will be able to receive discounted bus passes (and when I say discounted I mean practically free, comparatively!). I’m happy for Emily Kinner, our new student trustee. I’m excited to find out the results of the elections for senators and student body president will be. But something was wrong with this election.

We had a depressing voter turnout. The vote distributions published for EcoPass and student trustee are, respectively, 985 and 124, and 453 and 205. This implies that 1,109 people voted on EcoPass and 658 voted for Student Trustee.

I’m not sure whether to expect more or fewer votes for the senators and president, but this raises an interesting question: Why would someone log on to the voting site to vote for EcoPass and then ignore the other voting options? My guess is that the EcoPass was presented as a universally beneficial money-saving and eco-friendly program, whereas the other ballots required voters to make a choice between two people with little knowledge of their agenda.

A letter to the editor from Oscar Pangilinan was published in last week’s La Voz airing his concern about the lack of debates between candidates during our elections. (I’d like to agree wholeheartedly with you, Oscar. In fact, your letter was awesome. Come be a columnist!*) He worried that voters would be selecting their candidates with nothing to support their vote besides the candidates’ statements.

I’d like to add that debates would be a worthy focus of current De Anza Student Body members’ attention and efforts, and I assume they would cost relatively little money, if any, to organize. To my understanding, students do not vote because they are either unfamiliar with the process, disaffected from student elections as a whole, or undecided between two candidates.

Public debates would infuse our elections with passion, intellectualism, and at least some degree of involvement. Put the candidates out on the stage in front of the cafeteria and give them microphones like you do with bands, then make them discuss something they really care about. At least some size of audience would gather, and the candidates would be forced to publicly articulate specific action they would take in office, information which I found somewhat lacking in the candidates’ statements.

I hate to think that the number of students who voted in our campus elections reflects the number who will vote in state and federal elections to come. In some nations, voting is mandatory. Since it isn’t in the U.S., we have to promote a cultural mindset emphasizing the importance of voting. How can we expect our government to work the way we want without voicing our preferences through a vote?

What can De Anza do, then, to teach its students that voting shouldn’t be taken lightly?