A note to college students: You are lazy and apathetic. That statement may sound mean and accusatory, but the numbers speak for themselves.

In March, approximately 2 percent of MSU’s 43,000 students voted in a universitywide internet-based referendum for various tax increase proposals.

To save readers the trouble of doing the math, that’s 860. Only 860 students out of a population of about 43,000 could be bothered to make their voices heard, in a vote that could have been cast online.

Today is the deadline to register to vote in the state’s Aug. 6 primary. It will determine which parties will nominate to run in the upcoming gubernatorial election as well as other state leadership positions.

But there is more at stake than who we can pick to run in November.

For example, East Lansing’s ballot contain two proposed land-annexations. One could take a portion of Meridian Township if the leaders of the two municipalities cannot come to an agreement to share the property in time.

The other could have taken a portion of Bath Township.

Although the Bath Township annexation is no longer valid because the two municipalities agreed on a land-sharing deal and the other proposal could be made null, the public opinion that could be gained on the issue could sway East Lansing leaders when it comes to future annexation attempts.

Voting has traditionally been one of the last vestiges of adulthood, although it seems painfully obvious that most college students look forward to the more appealing milestone of the legal drinking age.

But most citizens acknowledge that it is not only their right, but their civic duty to vote.

Often, college students wonder why our elected officials pass laws that seem contrary to the interests of our nation’s young people. And while our leaders should care about what’s on the minds of college-age voters, its easy to see how they can get away with ignoring them - our nation’s youth doesn’t use its collective voice.

America’s elderly population votes in droves. So it’s no surprise that it gets better attention from its lawmakers.

While politicians make sure they get the opinions the elderly as they attempt to get elected and re-elected, students are known for poor poll attendance and through that, a lackluster understanding of the political arena.

This is a sad situation which has no valid excuse.

One doesn’t even have to be present at the polls to vote - absentee ballots are available at any city or township clerk’s office, so long as they’re requested by Aug. 3.

And the notion that one vote doesn’t count is a sorry and pathetic reason for not voting.

It may seem that way sometimes, but the recent tie in the East Lansing school board election is a good example of the power of a vote.

And the 2000 presidential contest in another example of the power of an individual vote.

Students can create a very significant voice if they would only get out an participate in their government via their civic duty to vote.

Voting is not only one’s duty, but a right that is not easy to come by. In some countries, people die for the right to vote.

It’s embarrassing to see our citizens here, especially our peers, let their freely given rights go to waste.