I often wonder why we even have elections. It is disheartening to think that once again, we as a student body will fool ourselves into thinking that voting a new ticket into office may bring visible change.

With less than half of of the student body voting in yesterday's primary, it is clear that most students have given up hope — and understandably so. I don't know which is more depressing, endorsing a ticket that will do nothing but continue to ride on the backs of the Administration, or not voting at all.

Granted, there are two tickets that are more inclined to voice the true concerns of the student body, but even if they were elected, I seriously doubt that much would change, if at all.

One platform on the Norton/Moscona ticket is extending parietals to 1 a.m. Two words — yeah right. While this is a noble attempt to add a whopping 60 minutes to entertain members of the opposite sex in dorm rooms, for some reason, I am not convinced that the Administration will bend the hallowed words of du Lac to accommodate the complaints of weary students.

What I am convinced of is that the Norton/Moscona ticket is well aware of this fact in an attempt to rake in more votes from a largely disgruntled student body.

The Smith/Andre ticket wanted to reduce bookstore prices. While most students are tired of being mugged by ridiculous prices, trying to negotiate up a steep corporate ladder is hardly the way to go. Instead of empathizing with ripped off students, Follet will most likely laugh in our poor faces and continue to hitch prices in a highly monopolized market.

The Zeidler/Henisey ticket proposed transforming the Alumni-Senior bar into an eight-lane bowling alley. OK Let's assume that the Administration does agree to build this prized bowling alley. If in the event that people actually do decide to show up to on a Friday or Saturday night, more than bowling balls will go rolling down the lanes.

Instead of wasting tons of money on a bowling alley, the University could direct this money to the much needed and demanded renovations of our student center. Expanding the dining cuisine to something more that Burger King and really bad pizza would definitely be a welcome addition.

The Zimmerman/Nelson ticket suggested levelling off GPA's in all colleges. Does this mean that this ticket wants professors in the College of Arts and Letters or the Mendoza College of Business to start giving out more Cs and Ds so that Engineering and Science majors can feel better about their grades? As Zimmerman is an engineering major, I believe that the twisted rationale above is not too far off mark.

While I am not encouraging students to discontinue voter participation, it just seems a little ironic that the democratic process that so many students revere does little in the way of promoting the voices of those who matter the most. Instead it seems that student government elections are now more than empty formalities.

• Elect-a-poser