The new school year is here, which means October’s federal election isn’t far ahead. For many students, myself included, this election will be the first of its kind we’re eligible to vote in.
While people across the country wrestle with important political questions, students outside their ridings are left with a very simple question, one that Elections Canada has done precious little to clarify: how do I vote?
An answer to this question should be readily available, especially in the nation’s capital. It’s very simple, as it turns out. Forty universities across Canada will have offices set up by Elections Canada, wherein electors unable to vote at their designated voting location can cast their votes for their appropriate riding.
There is no indication, however, as to whether Carleton or the University of Ottawa will play host to one of these offices. Secondly, this information didn’t come directly from Elections Canada, but rather from CBC News. While CBC was helpful in alerting me to the existence of this pilot program, it brought me no closer to useful information other than to tell me the University of Waterloo will be one of the 40 schools involved.
Going directly to Elections Canada’s website in search of more information, I was able to find two pages of interest. The first detailed the rules that govern special ballot voting in federal elections. This information, while useful, brought me no closer to a list of campuses which would host these offices. The second page assured me a list of campuses which will host these offices would be published sometime in August 2015. I found this page Sept. 3. After an hour, no amount of carefully-worded web searches or blind Googling brought me any closer to the information I was looking for.
The lack of information online about special ballot voting is concerning when so many students will be outside their riding at the time of the election. What’s more upsetting is the lack of advertising on campuses about this pilot project.
The numerous provincial general elections in the last two years gave young voters the chance to dabble in democracy, but the scale and impact of the impending federal election is unquestionably greater. Elections Canada themselves claimed a turnout of 38.8 per cent of voters between the ages of 18-24 during the 2011 election, up only 1.4 per cent from 2008.
While Elections Canada is restricted from advocating for people to vote under the Fair Elections Act, they are well within their powers to advertise ways for people to vote. In fact, anyone who has lived through a federal election knows that advertising voting methods is a big part of what they do.
As a one-time poll clerk for Elections Ontario, I am familiar with the myriad of posters, banners, and signs that Canadian election organizations like to strew across community centres, high schools, and polling stations in the months leading up to an election. This is partly why I’m surprised Elections Canada has stayed mostly mum about campus voting office locations.
There’s not a lot of time left and this information is too vital to keep quiet about. I’m not suggesting Elections Canada engage in political activism or pay special attention to university students, or do anything else that might get them accused of overstepping the tight boundaries established by the Fair Elections Act. I’m simply asking them to do what they do best—pretend that they don’t see the urgent need for people to vote while silently gesturing in the direction of the nearest polling station.
