More on the OA

I have been an observer and advisor at many elections. I saw some
really good presentations and some poor ones. It didn't seem to matter
what the team did, the election still turned into a popularity contest. This
discussion should probably be on arrow-l, but I think this is important to all
scouters.
The two elections that I thought went well were ones in which the SM
was very active in the OA and so was the troop. Our Lodge is not very
active, IMHO, and the troops know this. The boys that I talk to about the
OA before the elections say they could care less about the OA. Some
would love to be in and they are deserving, yet they don't get voted in by
the troop.
Maybe a talent portion, a quiz, or a swim suit compitition would help. It
was a joke!!!! How else do you explain an election where half the ballots
only had one name marked out of 50, a brand new first class scout is
elected, and the SPL and ASPL are not. The SM even suggested not
holding elections in the troop again.
I got a lot of suggestions and most were about moving the election to say
early January. Thus keeping your new scouts from being involved in the
election process. Will this work? Probably. Is this a solution? Yes and
No. It skirts the actual problem of the election still being a popularity
contest, the problem is still there.
I was elected as a boy. I was popular because I was a problem scout.
Everybody knew my name and so I was elected. Was I the best choice? I
think there were a bunch of scouts over looked even then (early 70's).
Now that I have been honored by my peers for my hard work and been
given the Vigil, I see that there is a problem with the election process,
IMHO. YiS The Mad Texan

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