Hypothetical situation. You are working on a really brilliant and creative group project for a class which you and your group have spent countless hours of research on.

Days before the presentation, you go to your professor for feedback only to have him or her tell you the project is OK. Not good. Not great. Not terrific, but OK.

You leave, knowing this exciting group project didn’t get the attention you thought was warranted.

This is most likely the way the members of the Constitutional Convention will feel if they don’t receive the 4,700 votes required to ratify the new draft of the Government of the Student Body Constitution.

The Constitutional Convention was founded by Jamey Hansen, a senior in elementary education, last spring for the purpose of modifying segments of the current GSB Constitution so it works to better benefit the GSB and the student body.

Since then, Convention members have worked on creating a simplified version of the constitution over the past year. Some of them have put countless hours on this draft, which consists of changes in Senate membership, responsibilities of the vice president and the impeachment process.

Now, one year later, Convention members have come up with a draft the majority agrees on. On April 12, Convention members approved an edited version of the draft on a vote of 11-0-3.

But their vote is only a small part of this new draft. The biggest challenge now is getting your vote.

At least 4,700 votes are needed to approve or reject the new constitution.

As of this writing, about 300 students have voted on the ratification.

That’s pretty sad, considering there are more than 20,000 students on this campus, and the election has been going on since last weekend.

It has been traditionally a challenge for any GSB election to get more than 1,000 votes, let alone 4,700.

However, the GSB is not to blame.

The students are to blame. Generally speaking, Iowa State students have been very apathetic toward student government.

Why is that? There are several reasons.

Many of you students have said you don’t care about the GSB because it doesn’t affect you. You have said you don’t like certain people associated with the GSB. You have said you don’t care about the GSB because all it does is cause controversy. You have said you don’t care about the GSB because you don’t know what it does, why it exists and how it works.

Maybe this isn’t big news to some, but the GSB affects every single student on this campus. Whether you’re a member of a campus organization or not, the representatives on the Senate have influence and power.

However, for those of you who have been past non-voters, when was the last time you liked every single member of the Senate? When was the last time you made the effort to learn at least the name of your college senator, regardless of whether you voted? Since when does a governing body, whether it is Iowa State’s or the United State’s, not have controversy spurred by a debate or discussion? When was the last time you took the time to read a story about the GSB so you could learn more about it?

This apathy toward the GSB does not apply to every single Iowa State student. However, when you have such a history of poor election turnouts, it cannot be ignored.

The Constitutional Convention vote isn’t just another election. This is about a vote to ratify a constitution that hasn’t been changed in several decades.

Most Convention members have worked to make the new draft come together for you, the students, to vote on because this isn’t just the constitution for GSB. It is a constitution for you because it gives you more direct power concerning student involvement in the GSB.

It is easy to say “go vote.” But how many “Go vote” editorials does the Daily have to write for students to pay attention and realize the importance of our student government?

The Iowa State Daily and the Constitutional Convention have done their jobs. Now it is time to do yours. Can 4,700 students vote by Friday? It is possible in theory. Realistically, it is a long shot.

But then again, this isn’t another election. Everyone has expectations. So prove the Daily wrong, prove the Convention wrong and prove the student body wrong. Make your vote worthy of an approval or rejection.

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Shuva Rahim is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Davenport.