This is the first time I have participated, and it may also be the last and only time I participate in an election.
It was a long time ago, and I don'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 the 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 was there a supervisor accompanying us and a large classroom specifically arranged? After everyone from each class sat down, the supervisor gave each of us a foldable card, I can't 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 the local People's Congress representative quite interesting. I thought it was the time to exercise people's power! Then the supervisor introduced the candidates to us: one was a staff 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 member.
During the process of filling out the ballot, no one was allowed to speak, 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 student from the neighboring class told me, "Didn't your class know? The supervisor said we should choose the other person, not the school staff member!" I was stunned after hearing this, so I quickly asked that student, "Did the supervisor send a message in the grade group or something?" The student said, "How could they openly say such things? It was communicated orally by the class leader to the students..."
After all the ballots were collected, there was no vote counting, only a count of how many ballots were actually collected. The number matched, so we were allowed to leave. Actually, I didn't care who was elected in the end, it didn't matter anymore. The black box was the norm, so why bother taking it 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 it.
This website will be updated in sync with my own blog.