Chapin High School Student Government seeks to make changes in their election process for the following school year. In previous years many positions have gone unopposed and candidates were not required to make speeches. This year they would like to replicate the democratic system and make the elections more official. Even if only one person is running for a position, they still have to make a speech, and both the class board and executive elections are being held on the same day.

“It makes sense to model our student government after the real government. It keeps our country running smoothly, it should work for us, too,” sophomore Cole Morgan said.

One thing Student Government plans to do in order to make the election process more exciting for the students is changing up the voting process. In the past, the candidate’s names were listed next to the position they were running for and students would circle the name of the person they were voting for. This year real election machines will be used, just like in presidential elections.

One problem still remains: last year, every single executive position went unopposed, and Student Government is afraid that will happen again.

“If you don’t have a choice between at least two people to vote for, its not a democracy. You never have just one president to vote for, or just one senator. Opposition is one of the most important parts of democratic elections,” sophomore Ethan Zakian said.

Many teachers and Student Government officials believe that students ultimately are not running for positions because of apathy. That is not necessarily true for every student.

“I would run if I could,” sophomore Serena Finley said, “but I just don’t have the room in my schedule. There are other classes that I need to take instead.”

Many busy students have this problem.

“I don’t understand why Student Government is even a class. Don’t most schools treat it more like a club? I think more people would run that way,” Freshman Ryan Gorman said.

That is not a very realistic option for CHS. The Student Government is in charge of many events and fundraising operations, and they would not have the time to complete everything that they do if they did not have the class time.

Corey Hallman believes there is a simple solution.

“More people need to care,” Hallman said, “If more people care about what is going on, more people are going to run for positions. We need people to run because we want the best students possible representing us.”