The British Columbia Federation of Students (BCFS) are running a non-partisan voter registration campaign called Students are Voting, which aims to get students and members of the community registered to vote in the BC provincial elections on May 9. Representatives from BC Elections will be organizing stations on campus to prepare students for the election and encourage them to go to the polls to vote, says Rachael Grant of the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS). (Camosun students are members of BCFS; the CCSS is a member local of the provincial organization.)
“We’re promoting them being on campus to do that work because it’s an excellent opportunity for students to get registered to vote right here on campus,” says Grant. “The Camosun College Student Society is promoting folks going to the polls, and encouraging folks to be well informed, and going out to the advance polls, particularly, because this election could be very close and the student voice definitely matters.”
The 2015 Canadian federal election had Canada’s highest federal voter turnout since 1993. According to data collected from Elections Canada, while there was an increase in the voting participation of all age groups, the largest increase was among eligible voters aged 18 to 24, which would suggest that youth and students played a large part in determining the outcome of the last federal election. Until May, the CCSS will be collecting signatures from students promising to make it to the polls.
“The last federal election had an excellent turnout in a lot of ways,” says Grant. “What we are trying to express in our political campaigning is that students are politically engaged and students do care about these issues, and they will be at the polls on election day. So we’re just interested in making sure there is lots of information out there, encouraging students to take their friends to the polls, and hoping they participate in something that is really crucial.”