In the 2004 presidential election, the voter turnout rate among 18-to-29-year-olds was at 51.6 percent, a drastic increase from the 2000 election percentage of 42.3, according to voterunlead.org. Perhaps in the most recent election, young people chose to abandon previous thoughts that their vote wouldn’t matter or they weren’t represented by the candidates.

The 9.3-percent increase should encourage students at every university to continue to participate in the democracy the United States established.

The Students’ Association hopes to inspire a positive response to elections in this week’s executive officer election. Voting will be easier than ever before because students can vote online through my.ACU. With the added convenience of electronic voting, students have no excuse for refusing to select a candidate.

Previously, only about 30 percent of students voted for officers in SA elections. SA hopes 40 percent of students will vote this year, but the Optimist encourages every student to participate in the voting system. Students who previously could not take the opportunity to vote because of busy schedules no longer have an excuse. Voting will take about as much time and energy as sending an e-mail.

Students should take their role of selecting a plausible candidate for SA seriously; the elected officers inevitably will garner the most control of the way students’ funds are spent, what kind of service the student body will engage in and which policies will be changed on campus.

Every semester, students automatically pay $25 dues directly to Congress. When students choose not to vote for SA executive officers, they forfeit the right to determine how their money will be spent. Although every student might not have the opportunity to speak with the candidates running for SA president, vice president and treasurer, they have many avenues to learn more about them through campaign speeches, brochures and letters in the Optimist.

Explore ways to find out more information about the students running for SA president. Examine the candidates from a logical standpoint, instead of whether or not your friends told you to vote for them. And vote for the treasurer and vice president, even though the candidates are running unopposed.

Thus the old saying rings true: Those who do not vote cannot complain.