WAVERLEY: Students at Waverley Memorial School say it’s important for Canadians to vote, and that’s why they enjoyed taking part in the mock federal election through the Student Vote [program.
Michelle Dey oversaw the running of the Student Vote at both WMES and Georges P. Vanier Junior High, who held their vote on Monday Sept. 20.
Ashlyn Day; Jace Lightfoot; Ben Creamer; Lexi Giles; and Elvin Lerman were five of the students that were selected by the school to speak to us about the experience and what they enjoyed the most about voting.
Ashlyn said she enjoyed how students got to try out each job that is available on election day.
“I liked being the Information Officer the best,” she said.
Meanwhile, Elvin liked being a returning officer.
“I liked signing my initials on people’s ballots,” he said.
Jace worked as a voting registrar in the mock election.
“I liked crossing off the names and giving out the ballots,” he said.
Ben said he enjoyed putting the ballot in the box.
“I think it’s a good experience for all kids to get a chance to do this,” he said.
He said the choices on who to vote for were made based on questions the students got to ask the candidates.
“When one candidate didn’t answer the questions, it was frustrating,” said Ben.
Lexi said the students went to a website where students from schools could ask their respective candidates questions. She also mentioned the candidate that didn’t answer all the questions.
“That made us question whether they could be a good candidate and if I should vote for them,” said Lexi.
All five said they learned about what each party—the Liberals; Conservative; NDP; Green; and People’s Party of Canada–were all about. They understand why it’s important for people to vote when there’s an election.
“You get to choose someone who has similar values to you, and it’s good not to have a dictatorship,” said Elvin.
“It’s important that all Canadians have a say,” said Ashlyn.
“Voting is important because everyone should have a say about what is happening around them,” said Lexi. “If you don’t have a say you can’t help change things.”
Jace said he chose the person he voted for because of what they said they would do for the environment if they got elected.
“The person I chose I can’t say his name, but he’s going to clean up the ocean and environment stuff,” he said.
“I found that really good so that’s why I picked him.”
Ben said he did some research before he voted. That included listening to the questions the candidate answered to get a feel for them and a quiz to see which party had the most similar values.
“I also just went with my gut instinct,” he said.
Elvin said he voted for a party that puts the environment as its top priority, specifically climate changes.
“Climate change is bad, and we need to do something about it,” said Elvin.
Ashlyn spoke of the class watching a few minutes of one of the federal leaders debates.
“They interrupt each other a lot,” she said. “It helped us decide who we wanted to vote for.”
Lexi concurred.
“We watched the candidates answer the questions on such things as Indigenous rights, etc.,” she said. “I voted the person I thought was actually doing good stuff based on their answers.”
The results of the Student Vote mock election will be released after all polls close across Canada on Monday night. We will share the results from local schools.
