Candidates in Student Government Association elections experimented with different uses of social media and technology to campaign for their positions.

Few students realize the impact of the Student Government Association has, or the benefits that one can reap from being a part. Some assume that the only students who get involved in SGA are those that wish to pursue a career in government and politics. However, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. SGA members span across all academic disciplines, most of which don’t seem to be anything related to government and politics. The members are those that genuinely care about the way that our student body at Maryland is represented, which is something that all students should care about. Why? Well, if you have to ask that question, you are probably not familiar with what SGA truly does.

SGA FUNCTIONS AS THE VOICE OF THE STUDENT BODY, AND THE FUNDING SOURCE FOR STUDENT-GROUP ORGANIZATIONS.

            SGA operates as the governing body for undergraduate students at the University of Maryland. So basically, what they say, goes. Furthermore, SGA acts as the voice of the undergraduate students, therefore all students should be interested in the kinds of programs and initiatives they are advocating for. Because whether you enjoy politics, if you are not involved in the process, you can’t be upset when things don’t go your way.

Chair of the elections board speaks on behalf of SGA by encouraging students to come out and support their governing body.

            SGA also plays a very integral part in student organizations. Mainly because, they give them money. Each year, every recognized student organization is allowed to request money to put on programs for their organization. So any student a part of any other student organization should be familiar with how money is allocated to the student groups in order to fund your programs. Because if you thought those programs were free and/or the money just was sitting in a bank account waiting for you to use it, think again.

And if for whatever reason you feel as though you want no voice in the governing of your student body, the very least you can do is elect officials that you feel will represent you well. We concluded the month of April with SGA elections, and I followed the candidates to talk about their experiences on SGA, as well as what they plan to contribute to the student body.

IN ORDER TO BECOME PART OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD FOR SGA, YOU MUST BE ELECTED BY THE STUDENT BODY.

First off, what is the election process?

Well, just like our governmental system, SGA is made up of three branches: the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch is made up of the student body president, the executive board, and the executive cabinet. The student body president and the executive board positions are all posts which must be elected by the student body.

And for the candidates, the process started almost two months ago. First the interested candidates have to attend mandatory information sessions, to get deadlines and find out what SGA is looking for in their executive members. Then, the potential candidates gather amongst each other to create political parties, platforms, and positions. Then, the candidates submit their intent to campaign for office. Once the candidates are approved, they are given a 2-week campaign period up until elections. Violators of any step of the process are fined, and lose the opportunity to run. It is not required that you have been a previous member of SGA, but it certainly is recommended.

For instance, Talia Alter, sophomore psychology major who ran for Vice President of Financial Affairs, served on the financial report commission and the finance committee for SGA before she ran for office. She commented that though neither of those things were necessary, it gave her experience for her voters to reference, and also confidence in herself that she knew what she was doing.

IN THIS YEAR'S ELECTION, THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN CAMPAIGNING VARIED GREATLY BETWEEN THE TWO PARTIES. 

The two running parties were the Go Party and the For Party. How did the Go Party use technology in their campaign process?

Talia mentions the use of memes on Facebook in her campaign. Memes are denoted as “an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture”. The idea of a meme on facebook is similar to the idea of uploading a video on youtube that goes viral. You want your idea to spread around the millions of people that use the social media site. An example, if youre hard pressed to think of one, is the “planking” epidemic that was all the rage last year, with everyone taking pictures of themselves laying down across random objects. Same concept, except in this case, Talia and other members of the Go party wanted their campaign ideas to spread all over world.

 And though the memes employed by the Go Party didn’t exactly go viral, it was a brilliant image branding tactic.

Also, Talia mentioned another campaign technique: seeking out members with laptops on election day to get them to vote. It is extremely important, and smart of SGA to hold the elections online, so that the ease of access will entice more people to vote. And it was also smart of Talia’s campaign team to use that ease of access to their advantage, giving gentle reminders to laptop users around campus so that they had no reason not to vote for them.

Meanwhile, Talia’s running mate, Justin Dent of the For Party, used technology in a much  more traditional method for his campaign.

listen to ‘What a lovely skirtboo’ on Audioboo

Justin Dent represented the For party in
the campaign for VP of Financial Affairs,
earning the most votes of any other
member of the party.

He even referred to the use of a Facebook group and a Twitter page as basic tactics, hinting that his party didn’t exactly think outside of the box for their campaigning. Instead, they chose to focus on more traditional, even non-technological tactics such as chalking and word of mouth.

I dont side with one method over the other, because though Talia did win the election, the votes were within 10% of eachother. I will say that it is very interesting that the Go Party’s campaigning techniques were much more aggressive and up to date than the For Party’s. Before looking at the results, my personal opinion was that the more technology used, in something as complicated as an election, the easier it will be to get people to vote for you. Or at the very least, they’ll be impressed with your campaign. As mentioned, the Talia only won the spot for VP of Financial Affairs by 10%.  However, in terms of the whole campaign, my opinions were right, as the Go Party dominated, winning almost 70% of all elected positions. Not to say that the creative use of technology was the sole reason that the Go Party dominated, but I am sure it helped.