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Show U Voice In Utah Politics By WALTER ATKINSON Staff Writer A two-year campaign to make "student power" a force in Utah government was put to the test Monday night at the mass meetings. meet-ings. Whether it succeeded or not will be determined by the candidates candi-dates nominated and the future education programs enacted in the state. The Committee on Community Affairs has directed this drive to make students a more effective voice in determining the path Utah government is to follow. According Accord-ing to Roger Day, the committee chairman, the program was instigated insti-gated to "enable students to have an impact at the very first of the electoral process, rather than at the legislative level. Active Demos Day expected excellent Democratic Demo-cratic participation at the meetings meet-ings because of Dr. J. D. Williams' candidacy for the Senate, and the Kennedy-McCarthy race. What are the mass meetings? They are neighborhood political gatherings held during even-numbered years to elect district officers of-ficers such as the chairman, vice-chairman, vice-chairman, secretary, treasurer and committee members. Delegates to the party's state and county con-( con-( Continued on rage 4) U, State Politics (Continued from Page 4) ventions are also chosen at the meetings. Mass meetings are the foundation upon which the electoral elector-al process in Utah is constructed. Combat Control Mass meetings were orginated to combat the control of a few party officials over the selection of district leaders and convention delegates. Utah is one of the few states which include the mass meetings as the basic part of their democratic process. Most areas, such as New York and Chicago, select party officers in districts through the "political club," which is a group of party members who meet in casual, often secret gathering. gath-ering. Although mass meetings are intended in-tended to be'very democratic, they easily and often become tools of a small group of active partisan voters. Lack of participation frequently fre-quently enables delegates and officials of-ficials to be chosen by those who have an ax to grind, a program to pus or a candidate to elect. The individual's vote carries great weight at a mass meeting. |