About Youth Can Vote:
Lester B. Pearson High School was one of a few high schools in Calgary who have participated in the Youth Can Vote program. Youth Can Vote is a youth driven program created by Youth Central that helps educate and promote the election process. The main goal as stated from the Youth Can Vote site is to create informed, engaged citizens who are active in practicing their democratic rights.
Why Is This Important?
The importance of having mock elections is to help promote the voting of the younger generations. As stated in a study by Rhonda Parkinson on the MapleLeafWeb, in the recent years only 64.7 per cent of the eligible populations voted in elections, where as in 1988 75 per cent of the eligible population voted. A program such as this allows the youth to become interested and aware that they are able to make changes and control the government they live under.
School Reaction?
The number of people who participated in the school election was astounding. On my spare during second period my breath was taken away to see actual line-ups of teenagers eager to vote. Although I was not able to volunteer due to a volleyball tournament, it was nice to see such strong interest by students to vote. Hopefully such a strong turnout is followed through after many of the students turn 18. I can forecast that maybe more than 60 per cent of the school participated in the election.
Who Might Have Won?
Most of the voting was done on mayoral candidates, due to popularity and lack of information on ward candidates. However I have heard a lot of feedback about votes for Naheed Nenshi and Ric McIver; which is to be expected as they are a couple of the front runners in the race. Although a lot of the student body took the mock election quite seriously, there are always those students who want to swing the vote. I have been told of a lot of false votes or votes for candidates that do not exist.
All In All…
The election I think was a big success. I cannot wait to see if my candidate will win in the election, and I feel that a lot of the student body feels the same.
Well written article, the mock election was held at my school as well, and while their were a few people who just voted for "the funniest name" or "who they felt sorry for," the overwhelming majority took the election quite seriously.