British Columbians will head to the polls this Saturday, Oct. 24, after NDP B.C. Premier John Horgan’s decision to call a snap provincial election.
The decision generated indignation among university students, who said they feel the election is unnecessary amid a pandemic.
The election was called last month, and will be held a year earlier than anticipated.
According to the CBC poll tracker, the incumbant British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP) is predicted to win a majority government, averaging 47 per cent at the polls. The B.C. Liberal Party following with 34 per cent.
COVID-19 precautions
With election day happening during the pandemic, necessary precautions are being taken at the 1,256 voting locations available to ensure a safe vote for British Columbians.
Elections BC director of communications, Andrew Watson, said the non-partisan agency initially reached out to the provincial health officer early on in the pandemic, “recognizing that there was a minority government in B.C. and that an early election could be held.”
Doing contingency planning to determine what voting might look like mid-pandemic, Elections BC said it had two broad areas of focus: increasing vote-by-mail opportunities and creating a safe in-person voting environment.
“[We are] incorporating physical distancing into all of our procedures,” Watson explained, “[and] making sure that we’re reducing contact intensity wherever we can, so reducing touch points within the voting place.”
Election officials will wear personal protective equipment and sometimes be seated behind barriers. Voters are no longer required to hand over their ID and are expected to remove the counterfoil from their ballot themselves.
According to Watson, Elections BC already received over 700,000 requests for vote-by-mail packages and more than 200,000 completed mail-in ballots. Only 11,000 mail requests were received in 2017’s provincial election.
With the advanced polls now closed as of Wednesday, roughly 565,000 citizens have voted.
“Certainly, over the past several elections in B.C., we’ve seen that advanced voting is becoming more popular, [and that] forms of absentee voting are becoming more popular,” Watson said.
Students wary of Premier’s decision to hold an election
Despite early voting showing a high voter turnout, the calling of this election has not been received enthusiastically by participating students.
Third-year University of British Columbia student, Roan Raina, described his second time voting as “concerningly easy.”
“It doesn’t really seem like they’re unable to make decisions in parliament right now, so it didn’t really seem like the election was necessary,” Raina said, suggesting it might be a power grab to give Horgan a majority government.
Harry McGuire, a fourth-year student at the University of Victoria, has yet to vote in his Victoria-Beacon Hill riding. He said he feels that there has been minimal discussion and significance of the election happening.
McGuire said he is skeptical about the election, feeling that the province has not publicized mail-in ballot deadlines enough, leaving many unaware of when to vote. He also said he has seen few campaign signs where he lives.
“I don’t know how much of this is the pandemic’s fault and how much of it is just [an] opportunity for an incumbent government to have an election with limited debate,” McGuire said.
Another fourth-year student at the University of Victoria, Molly Hanley, said the snap election was an “abuse of power” by the incumbent NDP.
“After three years, there’s this stress [for the NDP] with a pandemic and this unknown, to want to get voted back in for another four years,” Hanley said.
Hanley said she felt as though the extra year could have been beneficial for party development and that the platforms and promises of parties this time are comparatively similar to those in past elections.
The issues students care about
CIVIX is a non-partisan, national registered charity dedicated to engaging young Canadians in citizenship.
Dan Allan is the CIVIX director of content working with Student Vote to understand the interests of younger voters.
According to Allan, the five major issues students in B.C. are focusing on this election are recovery from the pandemic, mental health issues, First Nations issues, the overdose crisis, and the environment.
“[The] environment is always a top issue for young people who take part in our projects and I think that’s probably true for young people overall across Canada as well,” Allan said.
As parts of B.C. continue to suffer from a housing crisis, both Raina and Hanely are looking for a government with a solution to homelessness and housing costs.
“[MPs] need to pick up on actual policies that needed to be addressed before the pandemic started,” Hanley said.
Hanley said she is concerned about the handling of homelessness in Victoria and would like to see greater community engagement and transparency from elected officials.
“Politicians talk about people who they’re trying to represent like a statistics major doing math,” she said. “I don’t think that there’s that face-to-face understanding that we’re not just voters.”
As for McGuire, he said issues regarding the economic recovery post-pandemic will play a large role in how he votes Saturday.
His other interests include the approval of responsible energy projects, the amalgamation of local municipalities, a crime reduction plan for the city, and the province taking ownership of issues concerning mental health and homelessness.
As voters prepare for election day, B.C. will soon discover which political party will lead their province through recovery from the pandemic.
Featured image from file.
