Although Election Day falls on Sept. 20 after classes begin, Elections Canada will not be running its Vote on Campus program this year.
The program, which ran during the 2015 and 2019 federal elections, offered polling stations to university campuses where student and non-student voters could register and vote with special ballots on site.
In an email to the Charlatan, Elections Canada said the decision to pause the program was originally made in fall 2020 due to sparse campus populations at the time and a minority government, meaning an election could be called at any time.
“Without clear timelines to provide campus administrators on whom we rely to identify and secure the space required and help us recruit the election workers needed to deliver the program … we opted to instead reallocate resources to other areas where we could be confident that the benefits for electors, including students, would be maximized,” Elections Canada wrote.
Instead of the program, Elections Canada said it reallocated resources to other areas. The organization spent funds on IT equipment in returning offices to help process online applications to vote by mail and enhance service offerings for electors voting within their riding.
Elections Canada said it revisited its decision to pause the program last July, but could not complete its assessment of a scaled-down program’s feasibility before the writ dropped. Elections Canada added that it intends to reimplement the Vote on Campus program for future elections.
The Carleton Young Liberals have released a petition calling for Elections Canada to reverse its decision and reimplement the program for the 2021 election.
Huzaif Qaisar, president of the Carleton Young Liberals, said he was surprised to learn the decision was made during fall 2020. He said if Elections Canada knew the program would not run last fall, there should have been a contingency plan for youth voters by now.
Qaisar said that during the 2019 election, it was easy to convince students who required a special ballot to visit the University Centre. In contrast, this election will require students who need a special ballot to request it before the Sept. 14 deadline.
Shortly after the program was paused, Elections Canada said it worked with student organizations to ensure students were aware of their voting options.
However, Qaisar said the Carleton Young Liberals received no notice.
“There was no sense that this could happen, it was not communicated at all,” Qaisar said.
Other student political groups at Carleton did not comment in time for publication.
Elections Canada has said returning officers are working to identify on-campus locations for use as advance and election day polling stations. However, only students who are assigned to those polls may vote there.
Qaisar said the “excuses” do not reflect Elections Canada’s role in elections, which should be to promote voter turnout as much as possible. He said the absence of the program would have a disproportionate impact on students whose voices already go unacknowledged, including students of colour and students with disabilities.
“I believe [the absence of the Vote on Campus program] will decrease turnout in some senses,” Qaisar said. “My fear is it could marginalize the already marginalized.”
Featured image provided by Elections Canada.
