Local high school students here are ready to cast their ballots.
Though the federal election is set for May 2, students here will be casting their ballots today (Friday), through Student Vote – a program intended to inform students about the democratic process in Canada.
Centre Wellington District High School social justice class teachers Diane Ballantyne and Jim Mason were still fresh from the previous week’s Democracy Bootcamp 2011 as they described the process.
Ballantyne said the school has had student votes a number of times over the years.
“This year, Jim and I went to the Democracy Bootcamp, which was hosted by Student Vote.”
It was the first time the organization had run a conference. “It was incredibly inspiring,” Ballantyne said.
The two were part of a group of 400 teachers taking part in Student Vote – Democracy Bootcamp 2011 – an opportunity for teachers from all across Ontario to gather, meet each other and share best practices of how to engage students in the democratic process. They heard viewpoints of a number of high profile politicians, journalists, and other special guests.
Ballantyne said that as a result of the conference, “It renewed our enthusiasm in the democratic process.”
Ballantyne noted over the past few years, voter turnout has been declining. “One of the points made [at the conference] is that there are a number teenagers now who have parents who don’t vote. We wanted to make sure the school would be an active leader in making sure that students were aware of, and experiencing the process.”
She said students learn about government and civics.
Mason and Ballantyne teach senior students.
“Some of them can vote, and have no idea how … even the whole concept of registration is intimidating because they have no experience or exposure to it,” he said.
Mason added in teaching the senior level students who are interested were having problems with the overall process.
“It was a bit of an eye-opener from the conference,” Mason said. “If this is a social trend, then we as educators are obliged to teach this civic duty in a democracy.”
If voter turnout continues to decline in this election, it could result in fewer than a 50% turnout, and the majority of those voting would be over the age of 50, “which doesn’t sound like much of a democracy,” Mason said.
Ballantyne added to try and address those statistics, the senior level social justice class worked with all the classes to complete voter registration sheets “so that students could have the experience of what that would be like.”
That information will be used to create voter lists, and when it comes time, students can cast ballots at the polling stations throughout the school.
Mason said the intent is meant to authenticate what happens in the entire process “from the registration to the ballot box.”
He said no one is forced to vote, “but because this is a public institution, they will all have had the chance to observe the process.”
He added the process is being used to promote the local student council elections as well – which have historically had poor voter turnouts.
Two of the students involved in Centre Wellington’s Student Vote are Michael Gordon and Amelia Heaton-Smith.
Gordon is co-prime minister of the student council while Heaton-Smith was the moderator of the candidate’s debate on Tuesday afternoon.
Heaton-Smith said she and Gordon are in the Social Justice class. Gordon said the class is organizing the debate with the Wellington Halton Hills candidates for the student vote.
Last week, all the classes were visited to get students to fill out voter registration cards.
“We’re trying to make this as real as possible, so that in the future, we want them to be prepared for voting and encourage that kind of atmosphere.”
“We told the students, that just like in a regular election, they would need to bring a piece of identification. If they don’t do that, they will have to swear an oath, to prove their identity.” Voting booths will be set up and the tallies will be sent off to Student Vote.
Heaton-Smith said, “This is going to be an incredible experience for the school, especially since not very many of the youth seem as concerned about the vote … so it will be very educational for everyone. Even if they are too young to vote in the real election that is coming up, it will still be a good experience for them.”
Gordon added, “Statistically the amount of people voting has gone down over the past few years. We’re Canada. We’re a blessed country. We have a democracy and I think we should be utilizing that as best we can. I think it is really beneficial to the students we are encouraging them to vote. It is a right that they should be practicing.”
He added, “I think a lot of younger people are not really caring so much about government, and I think that’s about not knowing too much about it. I think this is about getting their minds thinking about the issues, so that they’ll want to vote when they turn 18.
Heaton-Smith said, “It’s like when you solve any major world problem, you have to start with awareness. If you don’t know what’s going on, we’re going to tell them what is going on and how to have their voice. Gordon added that he hopes students will learn a lot from this.
Video clip of the debate at www.wellingtonadvertiser.com
