Key members of the Government of the Student Body’s executive branch might be in Washington, D.C. lobbying Iowa’s federal representatives and senators, but back on campus, students are hearing the last few days of campaigning for the GSB elections set to take place on Monday and Tuesday. Over the course of those two days, students will have the opportunity to vote for GSB senators as well as presidential and vice presidential candidates.

In the past, turnout for those elections has been low. In 2012, 2,688 students voted. In 2011, 3,186 students voted. In 2010, 3,824 students voted. In 2009, 2,345 students voted. There is always time for redemption, however, and the student body of Iowa State can make a turnaround and increase its electoral participation.

Some students have already participated, even though elections are still a few days away. They have attended campaign events, sported campaign buttons, reposted campaign news on their Twitter profiles and Facebook pages, and a few have penned letters to the editor, which will appear in Friday’s edition if they have not already.

We wonder how many students have given such support to one candidate or the other because that candidate was sociable and helpful to him once upon a time, or she signed the candidate’s ballot petition, or the candidate offered him a button, or she saw a friend post a link to Twitter or Facebook.

It is one thing to support a candidate when he or she is the only candidate to whom the supporter has been exposed. It is quite another to gather information about two (or more) candidates, weigh the strengths, weaknesses and qualities of each, and make a judgment. Hopefully, students are supporting a candidate after following the latter process. The same way that a scientist who does not modify his conclusions after his experiment does not confirm his hypothesis, anyone who supports a candidate for office without taking an interest in the other candidates, is not doing it right.

Fortunately, students have one more guaranteed opportunity to hear the candidates for president and vice president of GSB and to engage them on the issues. The second of two executive debates will take place tonight at 6 p.m. in the Cardinal Room of the Memorial Union.

It goes without saying that voting is part of good citizenship. Voting is the formal means through which constituents have an impact on politics. Sure, we can write letters, use social media and generally cause a ruckus during a representative’s term in office, but all that activity is informal and calculated to influence rather than command.

The distinction between elections and those other activities is that elections actually determine a result. A constituency votes, and whichever candidate receives a majority (or, sometimes, plurality) of the votes is the one who gains office. With other activities (which are different forms of lobbying), however, the decision is still up to the officeholder.

The second act of good citizenship is engaging candidates for office. In order to vote well, potential voters must know something about the candidates — all of them, not just the one who approached them first. Websites and videos are a good way to familiarize ourselves with candidates, nothing can ever replace the power of personal, spontaneous interaction. It is when a person has to think on his or her feet that we learn the most about him or her. We hope to see you at the debate.