At Hudson High School, students occasionally receive emails with google forms attached to give feedback or vote on various things. This includes Homecoming Court and Student Government voting. The forms are an easy and efficient way to attempt to reach all of the student body, but it is debatable whether or not the student body is legitimately reached. In years past, there has been heated discussion following the voting results concerning how true the results really are.
When asked for feedback, students’ opinions were spread across the board on whether or not google form voting accurately represents the student body. For those who voted yes, google forms are an accurate representation of the student body, they reasoned that since the forms are sent to everyone, everyone has an equal opportunity and the ability to make their voice heard and it is convenient.
However, those who voted that voting via google forms does not accurately represent the student body had more compelling reasoning. While it is true that there is technically an equal opportunity for everyone to vote, the reality is that the combination of students not checking their email, the unreliability of the internet, and students sending the link out to those who should not be voting causes voting via google forms incredibly inaccurate. One student responded, “I feel like it should [accurately represent the student body] theoretically but after the last time it was done, I went around asking tons of people who they voted for and no one had voted for the winner”.
Another student recalled when the senior class was voting for the senior class president, the form was only open for a few minutes. In those few minutes, there were technical difficulties ranging from dead iPads to the internet crashing, so many students did not have the chance to vote or their vote did not go through. They went on to say “I believe that if they held the survey open longer the results would represent the student body more accurately”.
This is a good point, however closing the survey after a few minutes was the solution to the other problem of students submitting responses more than once and sharing the form with people who are in other classes. Therefore, another solution is needed.
When asked about the possibility of returning to paper ballots about 68% of students who responded said they would be open to that. One student added, “I feel like if students voted in homerooms on paper ballots during an Explorer period it would much more accurately represent the vote”. If students voted on paper ballots during an explorer period, there would still be an equal opportunity for everyone to vote since there is a time and place set aside for the students, and the other issues caused by technology are eliminated. Another student expressed that since there’s no regulation with the email forms, paper ballots would be a more secure way to get everyone to vote. Considering about 20% of students did not even vote for class president, paper ballots could potentially bring that number down and more accurately represent the will of the entire student body.
Furthermore, there has been some discourse throughout the student body concerning the homecoming court selection process. At Hudson, teachers choose the candidates, then the students vote on finalists and the king and queen. Therefore, no one gets the chance to choose to run if they wanted to, it’s up to the teachers to nominate the potential candidates, and about 41% of students do not know this. Other schools in the area allow their students to run a campaign to be on the homecoming court, similar to the student government campaigns.
Multiple students expressed that they wish it was a choice to run for homecoming court. One response was “I think that the process is unfair. Most schools in our area have students run for Homecoming court, and the student body votes on the students who run. I think that process is very fair because the homecoming king/queen should be a representation of someone who the student body believes deserves to win. And running and voting would be the perfect way to do that. The ballot being selected by teachers and clubs does not allow the student body to choose who they want to represent as their homecoming king/queen. Therefore, it should definitely be changed”.
Why shouldn’t everyone have the opportunity to run a campaign and then be chosen by the students if they are seen as the best fit to represent the school? Especially since in that situation, you have to put forth an effort to win, plus friendly competition and running a classic campaign in that sense could be fun, and a way to boost school spirit around homecoming season.
Another solution could be for students to be allowed to either run for homecoming court or to nominate someone else for homecoming court. The administration could then set a date for these decisions and nominations to be made, then from that pool of students teachers can select the finalists to ensure the nominees are well represented. Then, from those finalists, the students choose once again. Or, it could just be completely student ran. Either way, this change would allow for more equal opportunities for all and a more accurate representation of the will of the student body.
Also, another student responded, “I think it’s good because it helps prevent it from being a student popularity contest…just a teacher popularity contest. A lot of teachers live vicariously through the popular students here, so maybe it’s one in the same”. The candidates being chosen by the teachers coming across as a “popularity contest” seemed to be a common belief held by Hudson students based on their responses.
Those who are in agreement with the current process argued that the teacher selection of the homecoming court nominees is fine because the winners are people the student body agrees with anyways. While this is true, everyone should still have the equal opportunity to run if they want to. There is no doubt that some students who might’ve wanted to run for homecoming court were unfortunately not selected by a teacher. Fantastic students will still be chosen at the end of the day to represent the school, but if the process were changed, everyone would have an equal opportunity to be said chosen student.
In conclusion, while the current process of selecting and voting for student government and homecoming court is not terribly harmful, these slight changes would allow for more students to have a chance and for more accurate and fair results.
