The clusters of chickens that used to run wild on the campus of Sacramento State are not all that’s missing from the campus this spring. A few good candidates appear to have gone missing as well.

When the new ASI board meets at the end of this semester, students who ran unopposed — including the vice president of finance and the vice president of academic affairs — will occupy seven seats on the fifteen-member panel entrusted with $9 million in student-paid funds.

Worse, two board positions will be vacant. None of the nearly 3,000 students in the College of Education demonstrated that ASI would be worth their time by running for office; and though there are two graduate director positions available, only one of the university’s 5,146 graduate students decided to run.At this point, the uncontested seats are all but secure. No write-in candidates are allowed on the ballot and, as Chris Lange learned two weeks ago, it is too late for other candidates to start campaigning.

Once the election is over, students who didn’t vote may defend their decision by saying, “It wouldn’t have mattered anyway” or, “ASI doesn’t do anything for me, so why should I care?”

Well, you should care and it does matter. Every year, Sac State students pay more than $200 each — the highest student body fee of any CSU campus — for the services that ASI provides. The ASI board is where that money is directed into providing Regional Transit’s free student transportation program, keeping Peak Adventures financially solvent and paying board members’ stipends.

Need more proof that your vote matters? In last year’s election, President Gonzalez was given the green light to build the RWEC and spend almost $200 million in student fees over the next 30 years by a vote that went roughly like this: 2,750 in favor, 2,200 opposed and 22,000 abstaining. And that was record turnout. If just two percent more of the campus had turned out to vote against the RWEC, the future of Sac State would be quite different.

Perhaps there was bound to be a decline in voter interest after last year’s Elections Complaint Committee debacle, vandalism and other campaign chaos. Few students can afford a campaign that could cost up to $500 under the new expenditure limits. Perhaps the best people for the jobs will occupy those uncontested board positions. Yet one can’t help but wonder: If the board screws up somehow, will it be its fault for leading poorly, or are all of us who aren’t running and won’t vote be the ones to blame?

The best remedy for the situation is at least to take part in what is left of this year’s election. Go to the debates sponsored by ASI’s Office of Governmental Affairs. Take five minutes and read the voter information pamphlet when it comes out. Vote.

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Sean Catanese can be reached at [email protected]