Across the country 850,000 Canadian students participated in Student Vote, a simulation for students under the voting age, and elected a Liberal government, with the Conservatives forming the official opposition.
In the Oct. 16 Student Vote, which included 47 schools in the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) and 6,000 others across the county, the Liberals won 223 seats, the Conservatives 69, the NDP 40, the Green Party four and the Bloc Quebecois one.
During National Student Vote Week, from Oct. 13 to 16, students were given the chance to cast a ballot for local candidates and take on the roles of deputy returning officers, poll clerks and scrutineers.
In the Wellington-Halton Hills riding, students re-elected Conservative Michael Chong with 50.7 per cent of the vote, almost identical to the 50.8% Chong took to win the seat in the actual election on Oct. 19.
In Perth-Wellington, students voted in Liberal Stephen McCotter with over 37% of the vote.
In the actual election, Conservative John Nater won the Perth-Wellington seat with 43% of the vote. McCotter finished second with 37.5%.
In Guelph, students elected Liberal Lloyd Longfield as MP with more than 33% of the vote. In the actual election Longfield took the seat with 49% of the vote.
Put on by an organization called CIVIX, the idea behind Student Vote is to get young people involved in the democratic process.
Centre Wellington District High School was one of the participating schools.
“This is one of the programs that they do to increase voter engagement so that young people have had practice … because we have the real Elections Canada ballots and real voting screens, real ballot boxes,” CWDHS organizing teacher Diane Ballantyne said.
“All of those things are authentic so that kids can have an experience with it.”
At CWDHS, students had to complete voter registration cards and present photo ID at the polling stations.
Ballantyne explained that practice is important when looking at voter turnout rates.
“You get a practice run because apparently, according to the statistics, … if you don’t catch a young person in their first election, the likelihood is that they’ll never vote because the older you get the more self conscious you feel about not knowing how to do something that other people are doing, so if you can practice at this age and then know what to expect, they’re more likely to show up when they’re 18 or 19 or 20 for their first election,” she said.
“And then you [retain] them because they’ve done it once, the likelihood is that they’ll vote pretty consistently from then on in.
“It’s building democracy.”
For Grade 12 student Toby Botell, 17, Student Vote has prepared him for the next federal election when he’ll be eligible to vote.
“I think this is actually really helping with that process,” he said.
“If gives the students a chance to actually get the experience of what it’s like so when they’re ready they kind of know what to expect.”
Student Vote has been running since 2003 and the number of students who participated in this year’s simulation was nearly double the number that took part in the 2011 federal election.
