It's that time of year again when ASUAF begins accepting nominations for student body president. Already people are circulating petitions to run.

But with this election, I think it's time to ask ourselves as students something important: Why do we always have a man as president?

Roughly 55 percent of the student body is female. Yet not since 1996 has ASUAF had a woman for president. In the last four years, a woman has run only once, in 2005, and she just barely lost. But that's all we've gotten so far as a gender choice in these races. Last year, none of the five tickets carried a woman for president.

This gap baffles me. It makes no sense. There are no barriers for female students to run. Statistically, the odds should be that more women would seek nomination than men, since there are more women in general. Instead, mostly men show up on the ballot.

Regardless of what you think about ASUAF, students should acknowledge that the university administration tends to view the student government as a photo of us as a student body. The president, moreover, is viewed as the principal representative of the students. So why is it that a student body dominated by women is always represented by men?

The problem seems to be in the nomination process. For some reason, we do not have women running as the top dog on the ballot. Instead, a lot of strong female student leaders run for vice president, a job that carries few duties other than overseeing the distribution of money to clubs via Club Council.

No matter the gender, the winning candidate should always be the person with the best ideas. But as has happened in most elections in the past 10 years, there aren't any women trying to be president at all. As a result, we don't get to hear the ideas a female candidate might pose.

For those women out there who need a little nudge, let me give you a bit of advice: winning the ASUAF election is easy if you want it.

For starters, you don't have to be a member of ASUAF to run. For some reason, ASUAF has become a clique over the years, and most of the candidates who run tend to have already been in the senate. But the best campaign I've observed was conducted by an outsider, Brandon Maitlen. Ignoring the issues surrounding why he was disqualified in 2004, he received more votes in the initial round of the election, largely due to his efforts to mobilize and talk to students.

Frankly, anyone can do that. And it's not like candidates have to mobilize that many voters to win anyhow. Last year, only 350 students voted. And with news coming that ASUAF might not have online elections this year, turnout could shrink, making it even easier to win.

The student body should search within itself for a new face to place before voters. A female face. And it should give serious consideration to electing this person if her ideas are fitting of the presidency.

Petitions are due Friday, April 13. It's not too late to run.