The De Anza Associated Student Body elections at De Anza College are in full swing and the indifference on campus is overwhelming.

If past voter participation reveals anything, it’s that most students at De Anza are either completely unaware that elections are going on or just don’t care enough to vote. Most students likely have no clue what “DASB” stands for, and probably wouldn’t care to find the answer.

Speculators have suggested reasons for low voter turnout such as 18-25 year-olds don’t vote, the senate doesn’t do a good job or the senate is not important.

The lack of interest doesn’t come from a lack of effort by the candidates. This year, senate candidates have promised everything from bringing wireless Internet to all areas of campus to making sure the restrooms stay clean.

Every year, senate wanna-bes outdo the previous year’s crop of hopefuls with more creative campaigning. With the explosion of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, candidates have taken their pleas for your vote to the Internet.

If you’re a De Anza student, it’s likely that you’ve received a friend request or e-mail from a senate candidate asking for your support. One team of candidates hung up giant-sized photos of their heads on the Stelling parking structure.

With all the effort and sleepless nights candidates put in, most are aware that only a small percentage of students will actually vote. It may be that the non-voters think the student government is nothing more than a bunch of over-achievers who sit around and make a bunch of token decisions that have no real impact on the campus, kind of like it was in high school.

But, here at De Anza, the stakes are much higher.

Far from being an irrelevant campus clique, the DASB senate has immense responsibilities. The group of 30 of your fellow students controls a campus budget of over $1 million dollars, all of which comes from student fees.

Dozens of programs, such as athletics, extra-curricular and tutorial programs rely on funding from the senate to stay in business. If you’re involved in a club on campus, any college funds your organization has received originated from student fees, distributed by the senate. Even the printing of the newspaper you’re reading right now was funded by the DASB Senate.

The people we will elect this week will have extraordinary responsibilities. They will be the student leaders of De Anza College and they’ll have the authority to decide where to flex their power of the purse. These people will be spending your money and deciding what happens at your college. There’s too much at stake for you not to care or not to vote.