This is my first time participating, and it may also be the last and only time I participate in an election.
It's been a while, and I can't remember some specific details... but this incident was undoubtedly one of the many straws that broke my confidence.
It was probably during the first half of my junior year, after a final exam for a certain subject, when the class leader sent a message in our group saying, "After the exam, don't leave. Let's go upstairs to participate in an activity." At that time, I didn't know what activity it was, but I followed everyone into a classroom upstairs. I saw a red box on the desk at the front of the classroom, with the words "Ballot Box" on it. I wondered what kind of election activity would be so formal? And why would there be an instructor accompanying us and arranging a large classroom? After everyone from each class sat down, the instructor gave each of us a foldable card, I can't quite remember if it was a card or paper, but the only thing I can confirm is that it was red.
Actually, I found the ballot for electing local People's Congress representatives quite interesting. I thought it was the time to exercise people's power! Then the instructor introduced the candidates to us: one was a faculty member from a department in our school, and the other seemed to be a local small business owner? I can't remember clearly. Although I didn't know either of them, I was excited and thought it would be better to choose the school staff.
During the process of filling out the ballot, no one was allowed to talk, and I didn't know who others were voting for, but I thought they must have chosen the school staff member, I thought to myself. When the ballots were being collected, I immediately asked others who they voted for and if it was the school staff member. Unexpectedly, a classmate from the next class told me, "Didn't your class know? The instructor said to choose the other person, not the school staff member!" I was stunned after hearing this, so I quickly asked that classmate, "Did the instructor send a message in the grade group or something?" That classmate said, "How could they openly say such things? It was all conveyed orally by the class leader..."
After the ballots were collected, there was no vote count, only a count of how many ballots were collected. Since the number of collected and distributed ballots matched, we were allowed to leave. Actually, I didn't care who was elected in the end, it didn't matter anymore. The use of a black box was the norm, so why should I take it so seriously?
There were no further developments after this incident, and I don't want to participate in this kind of election again. But I often wonder: who are the people being represented? I don't know, I guess I'm not one of the people.
Recently, I discovered an interesting blog website on Twitter called Hashnode. It has a lot of IT professionals, and even though I'm not one, I still enjoy reading it.
This website will be updated in sync with my own blog.