During the spring election season, social media platforms — especially Instagram — are constantly abuzz with campaign ads from those running for class office or ASB. Personally, every time I opened the app this March, my feed was constantly flooded with posts, stories and reels, while my DM’s were filled with people asking me to repost their stories. And with candidates trying their best to earn votes, timing inevitably acts as either an advantage or a disadvantage.
So, if you are planning on running for office next year, my tip for you as a voter is to start campaigning early.
As you may already be aware, Leadership elections are almost always criticized for being closer to a popularity contest than a matter of choosing the most capable candidates. To a large extent, this belief holds true. However, your popularity and likeability in the eyes of voters are still malleable, and you can use this to your advantage through campaigning. Essentially, your campaigning should show potential voters that you are capable, friendly and sociable, because that is what most people tend to look at when voting, whether intentional or not.
For instance, well-edited videos or eye-catching graphics will impress your voters, and they will see you in a more positive light, even if only unconsciously. If it makes them laugh, you’re set.
Of course, you can only do this if you give yourself enough time to develop and market it to your audience.
Starting early can also show that you are responsible and dedicated to your goals, making a good first impression for those who may not have met you at school. Compared to the procrastinators, you will seem like a better candidate, even by just a little bit.
But even if you followed this playbook to a tee, chances are that you might not get elected anyway. In school environments, especially, most students too often end up just voting for their friends, or even just whichever candidate they know better.
Perhaps it really is just a popularity contest, but above all, it’s about knowing your audience and knowing how to make them like you, however manipulative that sounds.
So to go along with that sentiment, here’s another piece of advice: Try to make acquaintances or friends of as many people as possible. This doesn’t even need to be during election season; you can start the second you step onto campus on the first day of school, or the moment you decide you want to run. When it’s voting time, check in with them early on and secure their votes. Remember that we voters are all still just kids, and most of us are too lazy to carefully think through our candidate options — a good number of us will just vote for whichever friend asks us to first.
Regardless, you have to get your name out there. If your peers don’t even know who you are, it becomes even less likely that you will be able to gather enough votes. You can do this both online and offline: The trick is to use social media to get a larger audience during the season, and talk to people offline beforehand or early on because in-person interactions tend to leave stronger impressions on people.
Moral of the story: If you don’t start early, you won’t have enough time to do any of the above, and votes will go to other potentially less deserving candidates.
Writer’s Note: An important prerequisite in running for office is a decent-to-good reputation. Also, these methods are not foolproof, so don’t come at me if you don’t get elected. Good luck!
