Perry Hodgkins '11 wins 2010 presidential election

Perry Hodgkins '11 was named College Government president last Wednesday night. Posters adorned the Bae Pao Lu Chow Dining Center and chalk art covered steps up to the dormitories as evidence of a week of strenuous campaigning.

Voting for the 2010-2011 College Government (CG) took place all day last Wednesday in the Campus Center and Science Center from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. This year, only two of the eight positions were contested: President and Chief Justice. Even though over 1,000 students voted on election day, the community was still concerned about the thinning interest in student elections.

"I think the fact that there were only two contested positions this year really decreased people's incentive to vote," Hodgkins said.

The absence of competition also impacted the usefulness of the CG Debates. "Most of the questions were like ‘Why do you think your position is unopposed?'" Tower Court House President Elisabeth Gillette '10 said.

Gillette noticed a change in the dynamics of the debates, especially between the presidential candidates. "It was kind of odd how friendly [the candidates] were," she said. "I didn't get a great sense of how the candidates will react to the administration."

Gillette, who has personally worked with most of the candidates, also commented on the lack of outreach to the general community. "Campaigning was effective for me because I was looking for it," she said.

Gillette pointed out that certain majors, such as the social sciences, tended to be interested in campus politics as well as those in House Council or CG. "That's just a generalization, but if you're not intimately involved, it would be difficult to know," Gillette said.

These circumstances set a new standard for the 2010 presidential campaign. As in past elections, candidates were expected to comply with certain guidelines like not chalking on vertical surfaces and putting up only one flyer per bulletin board.

As an extension of their campaign, the presidential candidates this year attended a number of cultural organization meetings and spoke at several House Council meetings. "I went to a lot of org meetings to get some face time, which was really helpful in building my platform," Hodgkins said.

Hodgkins listed word-of-mouth, fliers and chalking as her core campaign tactics. "It's really about visibility because the majority of the student body does not come to debates," Hodgkins said. "On election day, unfortunately, it comes down to who they recognize."

Adey Assefa '13 found the Facebook groups to be helpful because they provided information about the candidates' platform. However, Assefa read the statements of intent only after casting her ballot. Her decision was initially influenced by her friends' opinions as well by the chalking around campus.

"I didn't really have time to go to debates. I really had to base my opinion on the fliers," she said.

Assefa, who had missed the election night party, first found out about election outcomes on wellesleyfml. "I was looking for Connie's statement of intent," Assefa said. "[A post said] ‘Our current secretary/treasurer didn't win. Fail.'"

Official posting of the election results were later announced on the "Q&A Conferences" that appeared on FirstClass (FC) Thursday afternoon. New to the election process, Assefa was surprised to find an unfamiliar icon on her FC desktop.

"I find it really creepy that these conferences just pop out of nowhere and that's where I saw who won," she said.

According to outgoing Director of On Campus Affairs Olivia Linder '10, the election committee was triple-checking ballots past midnight.  Regardless of the issues that have arisen about campaign week, Linder considered it to be successful.