Student Government Association elections are coming up, which basically means first-years are expected to elect strangers as our class officers and representatives.

We don’t know anything about anyone here, and we are supposed to vote for who we would want to be representing the epic Class of 2013. It is likely that I won’t recognize the majority of the names on the ballot, and even for those few people I can say I know, I don’t really know them. Do you know what I mean?

It has only been two weeks. I have made some surface judgments, but I’m not sure of who is responsible, a complete jerk, motivated, or full of unfulfilled promises. That 100-word ballot statement won’t really mean much to me. Facebook, on the other hand, will be a very valuable asset when I’m trying to figure out whom to vote for.

To anyone running for office, change your profile picture to one of you holding a child or petting a dog. I’m warning you, those who actually care about the election for Class of 2013: we’ll be finding your Facebook account in no time. A 100-word ballot statement doesn’t compare to a photograph. Pictures say a thousand words, did you know?

I’ll be the first to admit that when I’m looking to vote next week, I will be creeping hard on the candidates’ pages. Unless your profile is set as private, no part of your page is safe. I will check your political views, favorite movies, your photo albums, photos of you tagged by others and your relationship status, not because that matters, but because at this point I have already invested enough time in you and I’m a curious person.

Aside from the fact that it is hard for first-years to have any idea who they are voting for, how are first-year candidates supposed to create any sort of platform? First-years have been here for merely two weeks. What do we know about the school? We have been here for far too short of a time to already have things to complain about and what we want to change. I will be wary of those who have a laundry list of Colgate’s problems in their ballot statements. I don’t want any cynics in charge of this class!

With only a couple days left until the voting begins, I have heard a lot of talk about the elections. People are signing those petitions everywhere and over the past week the topic has proven to be an effective buzz kill during social situations. Tensions rise when two classmates realize they have planned on running for the same Class Council office and I have been asked many times, “What would you change about Colgate?”

Now I’m just waiting to be invited to join a Facebook group supporting a certain candidate, or to be given free candy with a candidate’s name attached to a bag like in high school (I would much prefer the latter). Although these may be extreme moves for first-year class elections, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone took advantage of these opportunities. I guess we’ll see how bad our politicians want to win this election. Good luck to everyone pursuing a place in the Class of 2013 government, but more importantly, good luck to those who have to vote.