Today, March 28, the student body will find out who will represent them as their class senators, SGA vice president and SGA president. This decision will come after a three-day voting period from March 24 at 11 a.m. to March 26 at midnight. The campaign period, which coincides with this voting period, is far too short. For students to vote in an informed manner — and even know that the elections are happening before the voting period is over — SGA needs to have a week-long campaigning period before voting even starts.

As it stands now, candidates have just three days to prove why they are the best fit for the positions, and that’s hoping students haven’t already voted based on just who they know. This year, the campaigning only included a Q&A posted in the email from SGA, a couple of stories and posts by the SGA Instagram and the personal accounts of the candidates, posters and a Trinitonian Q&A with the presidential candidates written by yours truly.

This short campaign is not nearly enough for students to vote on what they believe in or to know that voting is even happening. I’ve talked to students who voted immediately because their friend was running. I’ve talked to students who just skimmed the Q&A at the bottom of the voting email and voted even though they were still unsure. I’ve talked to students who have just clicked a random name or didn’t vote becuase they didn’t know that voting was happening. Having a campaigning period before voting begins would alleviate these issues.

With a separate campaign and voting period, candidates will be able to show why they’re running, and students will have the opportunity to know exactly what they’re voting instead of voting based on vibes. It also spreads the word that elections are coming up, letting more students vote and allowing the winner to truly represent the student body.

I want to emphasize the importance of our SGA to truly underline the significance of these elections. SGA is our direct connection to Trinity’s administration, and the senators are in charge of allocating funding to our student organizations. They are the ones who create change — for better or for worse. Students need to believe with their whole hearts that the candidates are working for the better. They need to have the opportunity to ask candidates questions and to hear from those they are voting for in more than just flyers and a Q&A before they have the opportunity to cast that vote.

I understand SGA doesn’t want campaigning to interfere with current SGA members’ work or to allow one candidate to use more campaign resources. However, the campaigning/voting period currently interferes with SGA meetings anyway, with the meetings occurring six hours before voting closes, and adding an additional week of campaigning wouldn’t alter that. There are also other ways that SGA can ensure that candidates have equal campaign opportunities, including capping the amount of money or posts they can use during their campaign or holding an in-person event for candidates to debate and defend their action items.

I’m not just suggesting this to give Trinitonian more time to cover the candidates and not have to run around within a day to get the word out, but honestly, that’s a part of it. Trinitonian is another avenue to show students that elections are happening and educate them on what exactly they’re voting for. That’s what I’m arguing for. SGA needs to allow sufficient time for students to make informed decisions on who they’re voting for.

Starting the campaign period right as voting opens doesn’t allow for these informed decisions. SGA changes our lives at this university, and that change starts with us, if only we knew what we were voting for.