When students wake up on March 11, they will see an email inviting them to vote for next year’s Student Association (SA) E-board. The question is: how many will ignore it?

3,223 students cast ballots in last year’s election. Despite the simplicity of voting through SurveyMonkey, the 2015-16 E-board was decided by a mere 24.1 percent of the student body.

The SA E-board exists to serve the needs of the Binghamton University undergraduate student population. The E-board has control over the multi-million dollar budget that funds many student services, including all SA-chartered campus organizations, Off Campus College Transport (OCCT) and Harpur’s Ferry. These six individuals are also tasked with representing the student body for their time in office.

The ballot is live from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. A candidate must receive a 40 percent plurality to be elected to a position.

According to Julie Kline, chair of the Planning, Research and Elections committee (PRE) that conducts the election each year, election results can hardly be considered representative of most students’ opinions with such low participation statistics.

“We advertise elections to gather student interest and increase voter turnout,” said Kline, a junior double-majoring in English and human development. “But somehow, the E-board is determined by a fraction of the students they represent. And that’s a problem.”

Last year’s seniors had the second-largest number of participants with 730 voting, following behind juniors with 1003. Most seniors graduated last spring, and therefore did not attend BU during last year’s candidates’ terms.

Freshmen had the smallest turnout last year, with 595 participating in the election. BU reports an 89 percent retention rate, meaning that current sophomores are represented by an E-board that a fraction of them voted for.

Last year, the winning SA presidential candidate, Dillon Schade, received 1,675 votes, creating a 57 percent majority in the election. But those votes represented the preferences of only 12.5 percent of BU undergraduates. The winning executive vice president candidate, Zachary Vigliani, earned 1,102 votes.

Many campus groups endorse candidates, such as the Women’s Student Union (WSU), the Black Student Union (BSU), SHADES and all housing communities. Sophie Gamer, the WSU treasurer and a senior majoring in biology, said that it is imperative for students to educate themselves on the candidates running and to vote for their representatives.

“To many students on campus, the Student Association is nothing more than a group of people who organize Spring Fling, which illustrates a huge problem,” Gamer said. “The SA does not function as a resource for students, as much as the current executive board may think that it does. Voting is necessary if every student wants their presence at this university to not only be acknowledged, but also respected. Abstaining from this election should not be taken lightly.”

Mark Ochweri, a representative for Off Campus College Council (OC3) and a senior majoring in environmental studies, said that controversies in the current SA office should highlight the importance of a strong student-voter turnout.

“Whether students are aware or not, this E-board is supposed to represent you concerning the issues you deal with during one’s time at Binghamton,” Ochweri said. “This year definitely has shown why it’s key to criticize the people running and assess if they really will do a great job.”

WSU vice president Janet Nelson, a junior double-majoring in psychology and linguistics, said that students should not underestimate the election’s importance, and that they should cast informed votes.

“I know that many Binghamton University students care about their school and community, whether that is manifested in the from of pride or dissent,” Nelson said. “That is why it surprises me that so few students vote, and maybe that is because they don’t believe the SA has any real power. But at the very least, who we elect to represent us is reflective of us as a student body and if we want that representation to mean something, we must vote.”