As We See It

At Mensa elections, there are no losers

Voters complain that American elections are too negative, too divisive, too personal and too combative. Well, last week I saw the alternative, and I’ll tell you this: The divisive combat is way more fun.

The Southern Nevada chapter of Mensa (a society for those with IQs at or above the 98th percentile) just held its annual elections. Only the new LocSec, Assistant LocSec, Treasurer, Communications Officer, Membership Officer and Programs Officer are the same as the old LocSec, Assistant LocSec, Treasurer, Communications Officer, Membership Officer and Programs Officer. Every race was uncontested.

Come on, Mensans! Surely you can expend a couple IQ points and find something to fight about!

Still, you have to give it to current (and previous) Communications Officer Raymond Champion II, who dutifully tallied each vote, checking the voters’ Mensa ID numbers against the national roster. And to Membership Officer Rose Bowers, who prepared a feast of candied bacon, bacon-wrapped shrimp, deli sandwiches, pretzel-bread mini sandwiches, stuffed tomatoes, stuffed peppers, broccoli salad and Bundt cake. (Along with deviled eggs and cucumber slices, chips and corn salsa, a fruit plate, a veggie plate, another cake and chocolate chip cookies.)

Basically, Mensans like to eat. But it’s not the food that attracted Rose to Mensa: “It’s the quality of the conversation—that’s why I joined. When you’re in Mensa, you never have to explain your jokes. You’re always guaranteed intelligent conversation.”

From everything I heard, the only thing people really got into was how much freakin’ food there was.

Only 15 people showed up to vote, and LocSec J.R. Wilson told me this was par for the course: “If you get 10 percent of active members to come to the event, you did good. We have 380 active.”

Of course, you can’t really complain about people not showing up to vote in elections if every race is uncontested.

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