Vote 'you' for IUSA

When I asked IU Student Association Election Coordinator Derek Molter if there would be a "none of the above" option in tomorrow's IUSA election, he told me there wouldn't be.\n"I have never heard of a ballot that had such an option. I am not sure what the point would be of an option to cast a vote that is not casting a vote," he said.\nLast week, I attended the IUSA executive candidates' debate to decide whom I would vote for. After what I considered one excruciating hour, I reached the decision neither Big Red nor Crimson nor Fusion nor The Hoosier Party would receive my vote. \nI know a few congressional candidates personally and would vote for them if they were in my school or housing area, but the execs everyone can vote for didn't sway me. I wanted to know if I could cast my disappointment as "None of the above."\nAnd why shouldn't I, or IU, or even America as a whole, have that option? We can vote yes or hold our nose and vote for the lesser evil or not vote at all -- what ever happened to telling people no?\nNevada knows. Since 1976, it's had the only non-binding "None of the above" (NOTA) ballot option in the nation. It's drawn large percentages and has won the plurality four times. It's been endorsed by strange bedfellows The Wall Street Journal and Ralph Nader. If NOTA wins, a special election is held with new candidates. Naturally, the rejected candidates can't return for the special election.\nThe common suggestion would be don't vote if you're unsatisfied with the candidates. Molter even suggested to me I could skip whatever position I didn't want to vote for and vote for the other positions. That is, if I even wanted to vote for the other positions.\nBut I've always been an advocate of increasing voter turnout and the number of cast ballots. I wrote a column months ago facetiously advocating we merge Election Day with Halloween, since more young people dress up for parties than vote. For me, not voting simply isn't a choice. \nYet with NOTA, there is a choice. Citizens -- especially students -- continually complain about politics. Contrary to Molter's assessment, a vote for NOTA is indeed a vote, and it's a much more effective protest vote than no vote at all. \nImagine if voters had a NOTA choice for Rep. Mel Reynolds of Illinois, who in mid-1994 was indicted on sex charges but without an opponent, sailed to reelection with 98 percent of the vote. Or imagine if they had NOTA in 1991, when the options for governor of Louisiana were Edwin Edwards, indicted for mail fraud, obstruction of justice and public bribery regarding the sale of hospital certificates, or former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.\n NOTA would hardly cure all of democracy's problems, but it's a good start. Politicians hate the idea of it, so that must give some credit to it. After all, they'd have to give reasons to vote FOR them, not just against the other side.\n Molter did say there will be a "write-in" option for each position. He told me it should allow students to cast a vote if they don't like or don't know the candidates on the ballot. But cast a vote for whom?\n Here's my suggestion: if you know for whom you want to vote, vote for him or her. But if you're like me and you don't like your given options, go ahead and write in yourself, or your boyfriend, or your girlfriend, or your roommate or whoever. It's not exactly "none of the above," but until IUSA gives us that option, it'll have to do.