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COMMENTARY
By Julia Mae

It takes one minute, one click and one choice, yet not many people do it.

Voting. That quintessential right and privilege we all take advantage of.

Today is voting day here at TCU. A day where we, as students and voters, have the opportunity to take a minute, click once and make a choice for our 2003-2004 Student Government officers.

For all the whining and complaining we tend to do here at TCU — and admit it, we do — I would think students would take more of an interest in voting.

If each of us would take the time to get down to the business of voting and getting the right people in office, we could actually change TCU for the better.

Voting holds a tremendous amount of hidden power. If you don’t think so, look at the 2000 presidential election or last year’s House of Representatives Vice President election. Every vote counted in those situations. The fate of those candidates and the power to make a change was in our hands.

I love voting because it gives me influence and a bit of power over a bigger thing.

Here at TCU, the voting comes to you in the convenient packaging of the Internet. All you have to do is sign on, read about the candidates, click a little box and hit submit.

Some of you may use the excuse, “Well, I don’t know the candidates, and it’s too much work to research it.” That’s a lame, lazy excuse, and you know it.

You see the fliers and their information is on the voting page. Pick one that catches your eye and vote. It will take you two minutes at the most.

And this year’s student government elections, like most elections these days, have their very own little candidate game of tattle-tale going on. If you’ve been reading the Skiff at all, you know what I’m talking about. I encourage you to chalk it up to politics and head to the polls anyway.

Yes, there is drama, and yes, it’s all a bit much for a college election, but why note vote? All of this juices up the election and makes us pay attention. Any way you look at it, voting’s importance cannot be measured, and your importance to the process can’t either.

At the end of the day, it’s not the issues that get the votes, and it’s not the candidates who get the voters. It’s you. You have the awesome power to pick who you want to work for you.

So today, voting day, take some good, old contemporary advice and “rock the vote.”

Julia Mae Jorgensen is a junior political science major from Pueblo, Colo.