As Canadians headed to the polls this week to have their say in the country’s future, students in the Flin Flon School Division, and around the country, had a chance to cast a ballot for their riding.
Three local schools participated in a program called Student Vote, a nationwide mock, or parallel, election for students who are under the voting age.
In participating schools, students manage the voting process as their peers learn about the official candidates in their riding, and cast ballots for their chosen candidates following a similar procedure to the one used in the federal election.
Student Vote then collects the ballot information from schools digitally, tabulates the results nationally and by riding, and publishes the results at studentvote.ca.
“The students learned a lot about politics and the parties,” says Tammy Ballantyne, principal of Ruth Betts Community School. “The teachers thought it was a good experience for them to be exposed to.”
Notably, all three schools’ mock elections generated a similar result to the actual election, locally: a close race between the NDP’s Niki Ashton and Liberal candidate Rebecca Chartrand, with Ashton coming out on top.
According to the organization’s website, the purpose of this parallel election “is to provide young Canadians with an opportunity to experience the voting process firsthand and build the habits of informed and engaged citizenship.”
Social studies teacher Laura Sparling supervised the parallel election at Hapnot Collegiate, which was organized and run by her Grade 9 class. After the votes were cast, her students shared their thoughts on the experience.
“I have learned that it is sort of stressful to decide who to vote for, but it makes you feel like part of the community to vote,” said Abby Burbidge.
“I think that housing is something that has to be taken care of,” said Matthew Laliberty.
Housing and homelessness were common issues mentioned by students when they were asked what mattered to them as voters. National defence, the justice system and healthcare were also key concerns for the students.
While most of Sparling’s students said they gained a better understanding of the electoral system from the parallel election, most supported the current voting age: 13 of 16 students felt they shouldn’t be able to vote officially until they are 18.
“Kids can’t vote because they wont know what it means,” noted Kimberly Custer. “And teens may not always make educated choices,”
Hopefully, by the time these teens reach legal voting age, they will be able to make educated choices – and make their own marks on the country.
Student Vote is run by Civix, a civic education organization based in Toronto. Student Vote elections are available for municipal, provincial and federal elections. In Manitoba, 34,579 students participated in the federal parallel election. In total, 850,000 votes were reported from over 6,000 schools across the country.
