While adults were busy casting their ballots in the Quebec municipal elections, kids in Montreal were also invited to vote for what they want in their city.
Booths were set up at one polling station for each of the 19 boroughs for kids in elementary or high school. They had to make a choice from four city services they felt is most important to them.
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The choices included the following:
- Arenas, sport centres and swimming pools, transit, libraries and playgrounds
- Buses, metro and trains
- Libraries, recreational centres and entertainment
- Parks, playgrounds and green spaces
It’s the first time such an initiative has been undertaken during Montreal municipal elections.
Voter turnout is traditionally lower for municipal elections (in the 2013 elections it was 43 per cent), especially among young people, so the idea of the project was to get kids into the voting habit early — and hope they continue.
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“I think it’s important to initiate them to the life of democracy,” said poll worker Michel Ménard, manning the polling station at Champlain School on Logan Street in the Ville Marie borough, one of the locations where kids got to vote.
“It’s fun to see them vote, because some are really excited.”
And some took it pretty seriously.
There was no record of the number of youth who voted, as they didn’t have to register, but Ménard said there were several kids lined up with their parents early in the morning, waiting to cast their ballot.
“Even though some were a bit shy, everything went well,” he says.
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