Every year, Boston College students are bombarded in the quad, in their rooms, and on their doors, with flyers and other forms of campaigning for UGBC president and vice-president, as well as class council persons. Though to the average BC student the constant badgering may become bothersome, it is indeed the most effective way to accomplish the candidate’s goal.

In the end, it is about the candidate getting elected, no matter the effort it takes to do so. Therefore, candidates should go all out when campaigning as their goal is to convince as many students as possible to vote for them, not to appease the indifferent students who find UGBC campaigns annoying.

Walking to class at quarter to nine in the morning and being bombarded by people with massive posters and wearing brightly colored shirts is sure to get the message across. If a voter is not educated in candidate’s stances on various issues, then he or she is most likely to vote for the candidate whose name they have seen most often.

Since the main shortcoming of the UGBC elections process is encouraging people and giving them incentive to log on and vote, most likely those who go vote have candidates in mind, perhaps they are friends or neighbors. Others who vote most likely choose the names they have become most familiar with, giving candidates incentive to make every effort to get their names out in the public so everyone knows them.

The best way to form a connection with voters that the voters will appreciate is to go door to door and present oneself and one’s platform, thereby being open to questions and able to give other information voters might need. Since the BC community is much smaller than say the American voting community, this is actually feasible.

BC students with no prior candidate allegiances appreciate the candidates who are willing to come door to door, and if they vote, are obviously more likely to vote for those who took the time to personally explain their positions and beliefs. This means that candidates should make their platforms as visible as possible.

Door to door campaigning may be annoying to some students, but this is just about as effective a method as you can get. Door to door puts a face on the name that’s on rather bland voting ballot and allows you to properly get a feel for what the person is all about (or how fake they are).

Relatively few candidates actually bother to go door to door so it can show their sincerity. Most opponents of door to door campaigning are unlikely to vote anyway, since they probably think the campaigner is an RA looking to bust up their thirsty Thursday.

Therefore, the UGBC campaign system rewards those who put in the time and effort.

The ones who are willing to do that would most likely be the ones to put in the most time and effort into the actual position they are running for.  People who find the process to be “annoying” most likely have little or no interest in the entire UGBC election as a whole, and therefore would not be content with any sort of effective campaigning.

An effective campaign entails presenting a candidate’s name, positions on issues and ideas for the future, and then being vocal and showing the support that he or she has around campus.

The current system has all of these, so students can make educated decisions and put the most deserving people in their undergraduate government.