Students will be given a second chance to make their vote matter as the ASNMU elections that were held this week were made void yesterday because one of the candidates was disqualified.

Presidential candidate Ben Stanley was disqualified on Monday. He then made an appeal to the All-Student Judiciary committee. This information was withheld from students by the elections committee so as not to affect the election, in case Stanley’s appeal went through. We support their decision and think they made a wise choice.

Although we think students should always be kept in the know, the disqualified candidate was still able to appeal the decision of the election committee, which may have kept the candidate in the running. Having told students of the disqualification would have thoroughly skewed the results if the candidate was found not guilty. By holding out on the information for just a bit longer, the events were able to go on as planned and allowed for all people to participate, even if they were later not able to.

While we wish the election could have gone off without a hitch, the events of this week will enable students to learn more about the election and what the candidates can do for them. We’d like to remind students of the videos of the presidential and vice presidential debate listed on The North Wind’s website. Students can watch these videos and make an informed decision about who they think will bring the best change to NMU.

This year, 1,309 people voted in the ASNMU election. This is the second-lowest amount in the past ten years. Ironically, last year’s voting count was the highest with 2,308 students. The discrepancy between the two numbers is confusing to say the least.

Because of the postponement of the election, we strongly urge students to not only read up on their candidates but make sure that next week’s numbers far surpass the ones from this week.

It is our duty as students to make sure our best interests are being heard and recognized. This can’t happen when only slightly more than one-ninth of the student population votes. Next week we encourage students to prove to Northern that they care and that their voice is worth hearing.