It won’t just be the adults watching for election results on Saturday night.
More than 60,000 elementary, middle and high school students across B.C. have cast their ballots now in the municipal elections, including in Abbotsford. Student Vote is a process that’s been taking place in public and private schools, through CIVIX, a non-partisan registered Canadian charity dedicated to strengthening democracy through civic education.
A room in a school is set up exactly like a polling station, with students volunteering as the election officers.
Abbotsford Grade 8 students Aarush Manchanda, Jasmin Dhaliwal and Manroop Sidhu were among the students who chose to volunteer at Chief Dan George middle school.
In between rushes of classrooms arriving to vote, Sidhu told The News this will be her third time voting. She was born in India, and said schools there do not teach children about voting, much less show them how to do it in a non-partisan way. She said she’s thankful for the right to vote, and women in her family who vote.
Her friend and classmate Dhaliwal, a first-generation Canadian whose family also came from India, said learning about the process is important to her. Both girls spoke passionately about their rights, in between helping other student voters through the process.
“I feel everyone should have a right to vote,” Dhaliwal said. She carefully studied the ideas of each candidate before making her selections, but said only a few won her over enough to vote for them.
Manchanda only voted for one mayor, and four candidates each as councillors and school trustees.
All three students kept their choices to themselves, not divulging any allegiances but giving some hints. Manchanda voted for people who spoke of inclusion and equality. Dhaliwal voted for those who have similar ideas as her. Sidhu was less confident with her choices, but was happy to have had the opportunity.
All three will be watching over the weekend to see who really will be elected, and to see how their classmates voted.
The Student Vote election results will be released once the polls close, as to not affect the actual results in any way.
Lorra Bedard, the Grade 8 teacher at Chief Dan George who organizes Student Vote for the school, said watching the kids year after year gives her great joy.
“I have such a passion for democracy and social justice,” she said. “I love watching them becoming informed and making decisions and realizing they don’t have to vote the same way as their parents.”
And while, she said, students do tend to vote differently from their parents, it can just take one dynamic politician to come and change their minds. For example, she said, prior to one election they had Conservative MP Brad Vis for Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon as a speaker.
The kids loved him so much, she said, that he won their school’s election.
A total of 736 schools have registered to participate in the Student Vote program for the 2022 local elections, representing 126 B.C. municipalities and regional districts. More than 60,000 students are expected to participate. This is the third Student Vote program to be held in conjunction with the local elections in British Columbia.
The same program also has opportunities for provincial and federal elections.
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Watch abbynews.com for local Student Vote results and trends in the coming days.
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