Abstaining from voting in this Wednesday’s Student Association election means giving up the right to complain about student government. Without a healthy voter turnout, candidates have a difficult time gauging what students expect from their leaders. In The Hatchet’s Feb. 25 Weekly Web Poll, 53 percent of 180 respondents indicated they plan not to vote. Only 39 percent of students in the poll said they would vote, with the rest saying they were unsure.

These numbers paint a bleak picture for the state of next year’s SA. Without input from students, the SA is left with a small segment of conscientious students having their voice heard.

In a student election survey conducted by The Hatchet, one third of students said they though the SA was irrelevant in their daily lives. And more than half said the reason they were planning to skip Wednesday’s vote was because they felt uninformed about the candidates or simply do not care.

Voting is a right no one can afford to take for granted. A healthy voter turnout reminds student leaders of their constituents’ needs. Indeed, everyone has the right to abstain, but everyone benefits when everyone casts his or her ballot.