BELLEVILLE – According to Elections Canada, the majority of young Canadians don’t vote.
Recent polls have indicated that the Oct. 19 federal election will be a close race. That means that if young people show up to vote in greater numbers than they have in other recent elections, they could make a big difference at the ballot box.
Kee Sakamoto of Elections Canada, a Belleville-based community-relations officer for youth, was at Loyalist College on Tuesday and Wednesday to answer students’ questions at her Elections Canada kiosk. Sakamoto said she is worried about young people not voting.
According to Elections Canada, only 38.8 per cent of Canadians age 18 to 24 voted in the last federal election, in 2011.
“We’re not really seeing an increase in youth voting, but hopefully through events like (the kiosk at Loyalist), we can create more awareness and get more youth out to vote,” Sakamoto said.
Loyalist students interviewed by QNet News had mixed responses when asked whether they will vote. While some said they feel they don’t know enough about the parties and their platforms, others said they want their voice to be heard.
“A lot of youth opinions don’t have a voice,” said 22-year-old Kevin Kocherry. “So I think that if we step up and vote, a lot of our opinions would be out there and a lot of our needs would be taken care of.”
Kaley Hart, who has just turned 18, said there are further steps that could be taken to pique the interest of young and uninformed voters.
“I think finding a way to relate to those that are younger and (first-)time voters would be a good idea – whether it’s through social media, or whether it’s just through different types of commercials and stuff like that,” Hart said.
Martin Daniels, a 22-year-old mechanics student, is one young voter who says he has a lot to learn before Election Day. Daniels has been out of the country for the past 15 years.
On top of readjusting back in to his home country, he said, he has to become more informed before he can vote: “It’s kind of hectic getting everything sorted out and settling in, let’s say – a virtually new place and all of a sudden you have elections coming up.”
Sakamoto said Elections Canada is doing a lot to try to inform and engage younger voters.
“We do targeted revision, where we go to the student residences and try to register people there. So we just have a lot of material information to hand out.”
If students become informed at a younger age, they will develop good voting habits that can be passed on to future generations, she said.
Kocherry agrees. He said he will be voting this year so that he has the right to an opinion in the future.
“It’s our future that this depends on. If you don’t care, then, I mean, in the future you have no right to complain.”
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