People our age are constantly being encouraged to become politically active. In fact, we’ve written quite a few editorials about participating in national and state elections. When it comes to Marquette’s MUSG elections, the story is no different: be informed and involved.

MUSG is the main student voice and representation at this school. According to the MUSG website, the student president “serves as the leader of the student government in the mission to address and represent the needs and concerns of all Marquette students. The president then communicates these needs and concerns to university administration and advocates for the students’ interests.”

If you want to see any changes in the students’ favor, you better believe MUSG has something to do with it.

This year, your choices come down to two tickets: Communications Vice President Arica Van Boxtel and off-campus senator Bill Neidhardt, or Legislative Vice President Drew Halunen and off-campus senator Stephanie Marecki. We’ve chosen not to endorse a candidate as an editorial board—although we’ve covered both tickets this week— but needless to say we endorse voting nontheless.

Voting will be open to all undergraduate students Wednesday, March 28, from midnight to 10 p.m, and you can cast your ballot at musg.mu.edu/vote. But please don’t make your vote an empty decision.

In a national presidential election year, false information is spread and slanderous accusations are made. It’s very difficult to get to the truth, and all you want to do is ask the candidates themselves. With MUSG, you can (and should) ask the candidates questions you have about what changes they would like to see made. They are so accessible to you on campus, there’s no reason you can’t reach out to them.

We know its tempting to just vote for your friends running for office, but are you even sure what their positions on various issues are? This is not a popularity contest – it’s a political race. A small one, but a race nonetheless and it should be treated as such.

People need to vote for the candidate whose platform they support the most, not just who has the best campaign advertising, slogans or T-shirts. More importantly, students should not just vote for their friends or a friend of a friend without knowing what the candidates stand for.

So take this opportunity to educate yourselves, and make an informed decision. Because while these four candidates may be your peers, in a week, two of them will be your leaders.