WATCH ABOVE: Youth are often criticized for being apathetic, but student leaders across the province want to dispel that myth. Eric Szeto reports.
EDMONTON — Alberta university students are mobilizing a campaign to encourage students to vote in the May 5 provincial election.
Get Out The Vote campaigns have started at universities across the province. Five thousand students have already signed up, according to organizers, who hope 15,000 students will sign the pledge to vote.
“Our goal is to get students out to the polls,” explained Cam McCoy, Students’ Association of McEwan University President.
“We want them to know the issues and also know why they should vote. It’s all about really pushing that support.”
In the 2012 election, over 12,000 students pledged to place a vote.
There are more than 100,000 students attending MacEwan University, Mount Royal University, the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary and the University of Lethbridge.
Campaign organizers argue increasing student participation is the best way to force governments to listen to post-secondary concerns about issues like tuition fees and increasing non-instructional fees.
“We’re actually talking to students face-to-face. It’s not just social media, it’s going up to students and then calling them after to remind them to vote,” said Navneet Khinda, Chair.
The reason students choose not to vote is due to difficulties in getting to the polls and parties doing a poor job of engaging students, McCoy said.
“They should be coming out to campuses and talking with students, bringing issues forward, contacting students when these issues are arising. I think it’s their duty to really speak to their members.”
Campaign organizers hope new changes to Alberta’s election laws will increase the number of students voting. Students are now able to vote in the riding where they study rather than being forced to vote where they lived prior to attending university.
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