Pleasantly Surprising Vote

For John, BLUF:  Amidst all the turmoil amongst the Ivy League schools, it turns out the students at Columbia elected an israeli Jew as Student Body President.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Israeli student elected by Columbia for role of student president as protests surge

Here is the sub-headline:

The election comes as the Columbia campus experiences an overwhelming wave of anti-Israel protests and student encampments.

From The Jerusalam Post, by The Staff, 28 April 2024 06:47, Updated: 28 April 2024 08:45.

Here is the lede plus two:

Columbia University has elected Israeli student Maya Platek as Columbia student government president for the 2024-2025 school year, the organization Students Supporting Israel (SSI) announced Friday.

The election of an Israeli student for the role comes as the Columbia campus experiences an overwhelming wave of anti-Israel protests and encampments.

Platek has been determined to speak up for Jewish students on campus as a member of SSI, an organization that, according to its website, aims to allow for a pro-Israel voice on college campuses.

Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds commented;  'SECRET BALLOTS ALLOW THE SILENT MAJORITY TO SPEAK".

I mentioned this to someone and used the term Australian Ballot.  They drew a blank.  However, Wikipedia recognized this term for the Secret Ballot  While the Secret ballot is as old as ancient Greece, in the United States it didn't start until after the Presidential Election of 1884 (Democrat Governor Grover Cleveland of New York vs Republican James G. Blaine of Maine),♠ with Kentucky being the last state to adopt it, in 1891.

Per Wikipedia the four components of an "Australian ballot" were:

1. an official ballot being printed at public expense,
2. on which the names of the nominated candidates of all parties and all proposals appear,
3. being distributed only at the polling place and
4. being marked in secret.

There are those of us who are dubious as to if a Secret Ballot can be sustained in an era of no excuse mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Wikipedia characterized the election as being "set apart by unpleasant mudslinging and shameful personal allegations that eclipsed substantive issues, such as civil administration change."