Posted by Nathan Miller in Question for the Candidates - Clarification About Questions
Unless I’m mistaken, I think the point of Joe’s question about questions was missed; and if I am wrong, I think this point is worth asking as well. This is for all the candidates, and to reiterate, the following comment had been made:

If only questions mattered other than to piss off the candidates…

Everyone answered about questions targeted at pissing someone off, but I believe the point is actually do questions to candidates actually matter? Will answers to these questions change anything?

With that in mind, I reiterate Joe’s questions:

Do you agree with this sentiment? Why or why not?
If you were in a conversation with someone and they said something like this, how would you react?
Do you think this sentiment is indicative of a larger problem with our club? If yes, what is the problem and what (if anything) would you do to solve it? If not, why not?

Sincerely,

Nathan

Hi Nathan,

Thanks for the question.

I believe questions actually serve two important purposes. One, they allow the asker to figure out which candidate they may want to vote for based on the responses. Two, they allow the candidates to get a feel for some issues that they might not have considered. For example, if loads of people are asking about some element of FCOMM and none of the candidates have really discussed FCOMM in their platforms, the savvy candidates would probably consider adding a discussion about FCOMM to their platform. It doesn’t mean that all the candidates missed the mark and are poorly suited to run the club, it just means that there’s some new information out there that they just didn’t have when the election began (and you want candidates who can think on their feet and adapt for changing information because that happens a lot).

I think the bulk of questions asked on the election ship are in that category, it’s possible for some people to ask questions for nefarious “pissing off the candidates” type purposes but that’s hard to prove and I can’t recall of a situation where it actually happened in STF, so I believe that most if not all questions are asked from a position of good faith and serve one or both of the purposes I outlined above.

If someone said this to me, I would try to figure out why that person came to that blanket conclusion about election questions. I’d straight up ask them why they feel that way, what have they seen that leads them to think that all questions asked on the election ship are designed to anger one candidate or another (or possibly multiple candidates). I certainly don’t hold that opinion. There can be questions that are designed that way, but most questions I’ve seen are asked from a position of good faith.

Do I think one person making a blanket statement about questions on the election ship is indicative of a larger problem in the club? I don’t have enough data to make that judgment. It could be, particularly if there’s some other people who nod their heads along with that statement. That’s why I think it’s a more important exercise to probe into why that person feels that way. What experiences have they had in the club that lead them to believe questions are just asked to get a rise out of certain candidates?

In my answer directly to Joe, voter apathy exists. There are methods that people have tried to combat it, but there’s no silver bullet that I’m aware of that rids it entirely. I think though, that being aware of it can help you take steps to mitigate it, by asking people why they feel that questions only serve the purpose of riling people up, for example.

So summing up, yes, I believe election questions do matter. And yes, the answer can change things, not always, but there’s that potential in there.

Does that answer your questions better? Happy to clarify anything if I rambled off. :)

-Kat