Out of 27,321 registered voters, only 3,805 voted. That equals about 14 percent voter turnout.

If this were a test grade, it would be graded a 0.0.

In a country founded on democracy, it would be nice if more than 14 percent of the community took part. If all eligible voters were registered, the percentage would be much lower.

Pathetic.

For those who did not vote: what will it take to make you want to get involved?

We frequently get letters from students complaining about various issues in the city, such as parking, the noise ordinance or student and permanent resident relations.

Elections are your chance to do something about it and voting takes less time than writing a letter.

This election was an opportunity for you to choose who you want to represent you when these issues are decided. In this case, there was a student candidate — one of our own.

To those of you who did vote, thank you. Thank you for caring about your community.

Congratulations to the winners in the East Lansing City Council election, Vic Loomis and Kevin Beard. Both candidates ran dedicated campaigns encouraging participation throughout the community.

Hopefully they will work to continue the good things the council has done and also bring a fresh perspective to push for new ideas.

Incumbent Bill Sharp did not campaign actively in the community as the other candidates, which might have contributed to his low-vote total.

John Fournier should also be recognized for his contributions to this election. He received 22 percent of the votes, many were students. In fact, he was in the lead early in the night, as campus precincts came in before others.

From the start, he ran a professional campaign that proved students can and should be involved in this community. His presence in the election definitely helped to bring more students to the polls.

Fournier did more for this race than he will ever be given credit for.

To the groups that helped get people to the polls on Tuesday, thank you.

The MSU College Democrats offered free rides from Abbot Hall to its precinct, which was 13 blocks from campus. The Capital Area Transportation Authority, or CATA, allowed riders to ride for free if they showed their voter registration card.

It is the little things like these that show the commitment to our country and its democratic principles some groups have.

All of the people who participated in this election, by providing transportation, voting, working as an election official or by running as a candidate deserve our thanks.

For those of you who did not, think about the values of this country and what they mean to you.

Hopefully, this will be the last election you miss.