Most schools in the U.S. have been practicing the tradition that is school dances for a long time. With a high school dance comes royalty, which over the years has been chosen in different ways. Traditionally and originally, it was decided on pen and paper; students would cast their votes by writing them down and submitting them. Of course, this was before major technological advancements, such as the internet and computers, were made. The current method of voting for royalty in most schools utilizes these inventions through a digital ballot sent out (usually) through your class’s Google classroom. This method of voting is definitely more convenient and cost-efficient. You don’t have to buy anything and you can reuse the same form as the years before. Despite this convenience, it would be much more engaging and incentivizing to vote on physical ballots.

One of the most important benefits of physical ballots is that it reduces the risk of fraudulent or fake votes. When voting using technology, there is always a chance that someone could make bot accounts or fake accounts. In the past, there have been cases of people rigging the vote in favor of themselves or friends by making fraudulent accounts. With physical ballots, there is a reduced risk for this as whoever is running the voting booth/table can monitor who is voting and who already has voted. Aside from cheating the vote, another benefit is that physical voting encourages more people to vote. Many people don’t even know how to vote or know that it’s time to vote once the ballots come out digitally. This means that less people end up voting and oftentimes its majority friends of the runners or people who saw their campaign. Of course, there will always be people who don’t care about voting for royalty, but they just won’t vote and would be okay with that. If we had physical ballots, for example a voting table set up at lunch, more people would see the table and the people around the table, encouraging them to vote. With digital ballots, it’s usually just a quick click and you’re done, but with physical ballots there’s physical aspects that encourage voters to be more thoughtful about their decision. The inconvenience also presents itself when it comes to counting ballots. It is much easier and quicker for a computer to count 1300 votes than it is for humans to do so.

Many would agree that digital voting is more convenient, fast, and cost-effective. Though these are all true, the benefits of physical voting highly outweigh the benefits. When it comes to convenience, there’s not too much of a crazy difference. Digital ballots take around five minutes to fill out and so do physical ballots. The only inconvenience would be on organizers, as they would have to set up a system to prepare physical ballots. The main downfall with this proposal comes with the cost. Ideally, it wouldn’t cost too much, as it could be as simple as having pens, pieces of paper, and volunteer students or teachers running the booth/table. Of course, there are other factors affecting cost, such as decorating said voting areas to encourage people to approach in the first place. Though, it would be worth it to invest a small amount in exchange for higher engagement in school activities. Some may be thinking about people who are absent or maybe don’t have a full schedule, but for those students, it might just be a fact of making time to go vote. Many people don’t have third blocks or lunches at all, but still find time to buy their ticket, so the time set aside to buy the ticket could also be the time set aside to vote.