Uni give-away #2 and #3 and some words on amateurish elections

Today I finally got ahold of two new give-aways. This part of my website has been suffering from a scandalous lack of entries, mainly because I have failed to pay attention to potential away-givers. Which again is due to an extensive use of my mobile mp3-player. Well, since elections for the students union are coming up, more and more people try to hand me stuff, so today I caved in:

Since I’m not inclined to do any kind of propaganda for these people, I’ve smudged the name of the pleading party. But I like the lighter, it seems solid enough and it’s refillable. The pen, well, it’s just another pen, but it’s free, so I won’t complain.

I’d rather complain about something else: I’m not going to be in Austria during the election (31st of May until 2nd of June), so I asked someone at the students union if there’s an option to vote before or maybe via Internet or absentee ballot. Well, there’s no option. Now, I do understand the plea of the student union to go and vote, because last time a mere 28% of the student body did vote. Which is disastrous and casts a certain light on the perceived importance of the students union. But if it’s so damn important for us to vote, why isn’t it possible for people who are not able to be there? Doesn’t this seem a bit provincial, amateurish even?