This year’s election marked a shift from approval voting, in which students can select multiple candidates, to ranked-choice voting, in which students can still select multiple choices, but ranked in order of preference. SEC also implemented a new vote-tallying system, changed the location and time of the assembly and altered the candidate speech format.

Six current SEC officers, all seniors, planned and coordinated the elections process: Associated Student Body President Nathan Levy, ASB Vice President Jazmin Rodrigo, School Board Representative Chris Lee (who is also a managing editor for The Oracle), ASB Treasurer Leo Yao, Green Commissioner Angelina Rosh and Wellness Commissioner Daniel van Schewick.

According to Levy, the ranked-choice voting system is more representative because it selects the most universally liked candidate. When tabulating votes for contests with more than two candidates, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their second-choice votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates based on the ballot rankings until one candidate reaches a majority. As such, the election winner may be most people’s second choice if no candidate has a majority of first-choice votes. Levy noted that this voting method encourages candidates to reach out to more people: They can still benefit from convincing students to place them in a higher position, even if it is not first.

Sophomore Asha Iyer-Schulz, however, pointed out some flaws of the new system.

“In some ways, it’s good that there’s more choice, but it’s a lot easier and takes less time to just choose one candidate,” she said. “I don’t think it mattered much on the results because there weren’t many candidates for each race and it felt like it was just popularity.”

Alongside the new voting system was a new vote-tallying system. In the past, SEC paid for TallySpace, an online vote-tallying service. This year, however, they began using Google Forms and a free online tally counter. According to Student Activities Director Lisa Hall, Schewick and Web/Tech Commissioner senior Dylan Lu also wrote code to eliminate those who voted multiple times or voted for a different class’s officers.

Unlike last year, in which the assembly was held during study hall/SELF in Titan Gym, this year’s election was held twice during a double second period in Spangenberg Theater. Seniors, who were not eligible to vote, had study hall.

During the assembly, rather than giving a speech, each candidate introduced themselves briefly before SEC officers asked them one to three questions specific to the position they were running for. Candidates running unopposed only gave speeches.

According to Levy, all answers were timed strictly so that the assembly would not run over time. Candidates rotated the order that they answered in order to ensure fairness.

Current Freshman Class Vice President and Sophomore Class Vice President-elect Sara Su appreciated this year’s friendly competition.

“It was a lot smaller and there were less materials last year,” she said. “It’s cool to see everyone go all out this year like making posters, giving out handouts or making silly campaign videos.”

According to Hall, around 50% of eligible students participate in schoolwide elections every year. She encourages students to exercise their right to vote, especially for classwide elections, which have lower voter participation rates.

“These people put themselves forward, and it’s important for the student body to get to know the candidates, find out what they really stand for and what they think that they can accomplish in the role — understanding that it’s a job,” she said. “Your vote does count, and sometimes these races do come down to just a few votes. Even though we don’t reveal those exact counts, I can assure you that they do matter.”

Of course, complaints about SEC can often be seen as contradictory: there are those who complain about the homecoming themes being the same every year and those who complain when the themes are different. We have to recognize the efforts made by SEC members to make the majority happy; when you are constantly being pulled in two opposite directions, you have to give way to both sides and make compromises in the best interest of the student body as a whole. By running for SEC, students can more effectively embody the changes they wish to see in school culture. While there is some degree of stigma surrounding running for a “popularity contest,” if there are improvements someone wants to see in the Gunn community, they can make them happen.

People often make excuses against running, however, and say that all of SEC is just a popularity contest. This is simply untrue. While some of the larger, more mainstream positions may be influenced by popularity, only 14 of the 30 positions on SEC are open to public vote. This means most of the positions are appointed. Applying for these positions involves presenting your case in front of a small group of class officers and other past members of SEC who weigh the choices carefully and talk through their decision. Moreover, many of the appointed positions are relatively open, as certain SEC roles receive fewer applicants than others. Because of this, applying for one of the lesser-known positions is an often-overlooked opportunity to make your voice heard.

Another issue students often complain about is the lack of diversity in SEC, saying that most of the members of SEC come from one homogenous social circle. While this may be true, this situation can be easily remedied: if anyone wants to see improvements in this area, they can run and bring greater representation.

Even just by voting, students can make their voices count. Last year, roughly 70 percent of Gunn students voted in the elections. The other 30 percent need to realize that their votes actually matter and can greatly impact the outcome of each election, completely changing who actually takes office. More people need to run for SEC and vote in elections in order to help diversify the representatives and officers.

All of the appointed positions are very specific to certain aspects of SEC and the student body: Secretary, Treasurer, Human Relations, Wellness, Site Council Representative, Special Events, Publicity, Visual Media and Diversity, half of which consist of two or three commissioners per role. This allows for a variety of people from different social groups to run and join SEC. If one of those topics interests you, you can make your case to the interviewers and advocate your position. If you think our money can be handled more efficiently, run for Treasurer; if you have a great idea for a school event, run for Special Events. Blaming others does not achieve anything; it’s wise to take advantage of the several opportunities given throughout the year to bring change to Gunn.

In SEC meetings, a lot of different topics are brought up and thoroughly discussed from all sides, weighing the pros and cons of every action and taking time to think all the decisions through. In the end, the outcome always comes down to a vote. Instead of complaining about the failures they see in SEC’s decisions, students should enact the change they desire. More people need to run for SEC to get a seat in the room and to vote for the opinion of the student body.

Written by Caroline Ro

On March 6 and 8, members from the League of Women Voters’ Palo Alto chapter helped students register and pre-register to vote in the library. This opportunity was part of the League’s larger goal of registering 100 percent of eligible teens in Palo Alto. They have  already successfully registered around 400 students at Paly and also plan to reach other private schools in the area, such as Kehillah Jewish High School and Pinewood School.

The registration event is just in time for the upcoming 2018 midterm elections on June 5, in which all seats of the House of Representatives, a third of the Senate seats and most state governors are up for re-election. The League feels that reaching out to younger citizens is particularly important, as the millennial generation (those ages 18 to 35) overtook the Baby Boomer generation (those around age 54 to 78) last year to become the largest voting bloc in the United States in terms of voter eligibility. Despite the large population, eligible millenials have a much lower voter turnout than the Baby Boomers. A study by the Pew Research Center found that in the 2016 presidential election, 49 percent of eligible Millennials reported voting, compared to 69 percent of Baby Boomers.  “[Millenials] have the potential to change the nation because you have the biggest number of votes,” League member and coordinator of Gunn’s Voter Registration Drive Liz Jensen said. “If you choose to vote.”

Additionally, research also shows that those who vote early are more likely to be lifelong voters, and those who don’t make a habit of voting are unlikely to vote in the future, making younger voter turnout critical for America’s future. “One of the goals of the League of Women Voters is to educate, protect, and spread democracy and one way to spread democracy is getting people to vote. It’s a mission of the League of Women Voters, it always has been since 1920,”  Jensen said.

In the library, organizers set up a presentation explaining how to fill out the available voter registration forms, making the process convenient and simple for students.

“I’m pre-registering to vote because I turn 18 in September, so I can vote this year and I want to get it over with in the least complicated way—this is the least complicated way,” junior Ellie Roodman said.

Following recent mass school shootings, as well as the Feb. 26 student protest for tighter gun control legislation, gun control has become one of the main topics that students are eager to speak out on. “Based on what’s happened recently, gun control [is a topic I’d like to vote on], but also smaller things like what California’s doing with our water,” Roodman said. “Especially now… young people have a really strong voice and we’re the people who want change more than the older generation. It’s up to us to change things…  if we want something to happen we have to be the ones to do it.”

More than anything, student participants and coordinators alike encouraged everyone to realize the value of one vote. “[It’s a] dangerous position to think that [a vote] doesn’t count, and I think that that’s why in the last election so many people didn’t bother to go out and vote,” Instructional Technology staff member Darlene Feldstein said. “It’s basic to our democracy.”