On Monday, Carihi students had the opportunity to cast ballots in an election that mirrored Tuesday’s provincial general election. The vote was part of the Student Vote program, a national program that allows students to learn the voting system and become informed about politics.
At Carihi, the vote was organized by a group of enthusiastic students who volunteered to get involved with the event. The organizers created posters to inform other students about the candidates and provided links to websites with further information.
According to Student Vote organizer Braden Majic, the posters mostly discussed topics “particularly relevant to youth, such as education, tuition fees, housing, and the environment”.
A voting room was set up with private voting stations, two ballot boxes and a name-checking station to make sure students only voted once. The results of the Carihi vote were sent to the organizers of the province-wide Student Vote program, where they were combined with the results of other schools across the province and compared to the general election results. On the North Island 15 schools participated and more than 1,500 students voted.
Carihi students voted 44.26 per cent in favour of the BC NDP, while 29.19 per cent voted for the Greens, 21.29 per cent voted for the BC Liberals, and 5.26 per cent voted for the BC First Party.
The results are similar at Carihi when averaging all schools across the North Island electoral district, though some schools produced notably different results.
In the general election results for the North Island electoral district the NDP won 47.54 per cent of votes, followed by the Liberals with 35.57per cent, the BC Greens with 14.75 per cent, and the BC First Party with 2.14per cent.
The goal of the Student Vote is to “practice voting, so students can learn that it’s not overly complicated, and to learn to exercise the right and responsibility of voting”, said Majic.
Student Vote organizer Tristen Gilbertson echoed a similar theme, saying that Student Vote was “a practice to students to familiarize themselves with the voting process and educating themselves on the party platforms”.
