By Allie Campbell
Calendar Editor
People almost always look back at their yearbooks years after high school and reflect. They often like to remember the students who won the “Senior Bests” of their graduating year and understand why they were chosen. Hoofprints’ current process of using only one vote with strict deadlines is the most effective and honest way to collect the seniors votes for this important part of the yearbook.
Mira Costa Hoofprints has always included a senior best section. The senior class votes on one male and one female for each of the 32 categories. These categories include traits like “most changed in four years,” “best smile” and “most likely to win a debate.”
This year, the yearbook staff distributed ballots to seniors in their English classes and students were given two days to fill in their nominees before submitting their ballots. In some previous years, seniors were given only a few minutes to fill in their nominees after receiving the ballot. This allowed people to win with barely any votes, because many students randomly nominated their classmates.
Allowing students two days to fill in their ballot preserves the integrity of the voting process. Having additional time encourages seniors to discuss nominees among their friends. When students confer with each other, they are able to discuss the different categories and are more likely to vote for the same, deserving classmate. This stops people from rushing and voting for random seniors and also prevents seniors from winning with an unrepresentative amount of votes.
Two days after receiving their ballots, seniors must go to the quad at lunch to turn them in. According to the Hoofprints staff, about half of the senior class turned in their ballots last year. Though this seems like a low amount of students, the yearbook only wants ballots that are completed seriously. By asking students to make an effort when turning in their ballot during lunch, the yearbook lessens the amount of quickly-completed ballots they receive.
Many critics of this voting process feel that there should be two rounds of voting. However, this is simply not plausible. After receiving the ballots, yearbook editors spend hours going through 32 categories on each ballot and eventually determine each winner.
There is no time to have a primary and then final vote similar to the way Homecoming court is selected because of this unavoidably long and tedious process. Yearbook operates under strict deadlines, and it is not feasible to orchestrate two rounds of voting.
In addition, a secondary vote would create a second disruption for English classes. Ballots could be distributed in homeroom, but this becomes infinitely more complicated and tiresome. Because homeroom classes contain students of varied grade levels, it is hard to distribute ballots to seniors only.
It is a common misconception that seniors can win senior bests with as few as 10 votes. Last year, Hoofprints reported that winners received anywhere from approximately 30 to 80 votes because of the current process. The process used to select senior bests ensures that winners have an adequate amount of votes, and that the ballots turned in are seriously and thoughtfully completed.
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