During next week's election, voters will have the chance to put an end to wasteful spending in Student Government and prevent students from being coerced into voting. The "I Voted" stickers initiative petition campaign I ran this summer collected 1,211 signatures from students who were appalled after learning SG spent close to $1,900 on unnecessary "I Voted" stickers for the Spring 2009 election, even though there were about 50,000 unused stickers left over from previous SG elections.
The purchase of stickers is another example of wasteful spending within SG that I have been fighting against as an Orange and Blue Party senator. Not only are stickers a waste of money, but stickers are also used by the Unite Party to coerce Greek houses into voting. Unite requires the Greek houses that support them to appoint a house representative who is responsible for creating a voter board that lists all the house members. The members are then required to bring back an "I Voted" sticker to prove that they have voted.
The existence of voter coercion within SG is unacceptable. The Unite Party should be ashamed for wasting student money on stickers that are used to coerce students.
Next Tuesday and Wednesday,vote against coercion and wasteful spending by voting in favor of this initiative. Students should vote in SG elections not because they are forced to but because they want to.
