Ahhh,the beginning of the year. New pencils, fresh paper, and those wonderful classofficer elections. But wait! Who is running for president? I've never heard ofthat girl before! Eeny-meeny-miny-mo ....

Sound familiar? Every year whenclass officer elections approach, posters cover the walls that read "Votefor Me." But the question remains, me who? The elections have no meaningwhen you cannot make an informed decision for whom you should vote. There shouldbe an assembly during which every nominee has the opportunity to show their faceand tell students why he or she would be the best choice. Without an assembly,elections are nothing more than a guessing game.

An election assemblywould allow each student in the school to know which of their fellow classmatesis running. Often, students sit down with their ballots only to recognize one ortwo of the many names listed. An assembly would help not only those studentsrunning for office, but help the voters.

The assembly would also give thecandidates the opportunity to tell their classmates what issues they plan onpinpointing and the reasons they are the better choice for office. As the ballotsits in front of a student, he or she will most likely vote for any friends whomight be on the ballot, and if all else fails, just choose the prettiest name.There is no way for any student on a high-school campus to make a truly informeddecision without an assembly where each candidate states his or herpurpose.

The final reason that an assembly would be a good idea is totry and reduce the popularity contest aspect of class officer elections. It isnot fair to the students running for class office that the head cheerleader beelected simply because she has the only recognizable name on theballot.

The solution to all these problems would be an assembly before theelections. The only way to make class officer elections a meaningful event at allis to inform the students who actually care about the

candidates runningfor office. Without informed students, the elections are nothing butglitter stapled to the walls.