Jorah Bright standing in Kisik Towers on the University of Regina campus. Photo by Gillian Massie.
Some post-secondary students are feeling defeated after the 2021 Federal Election due to lack of information and access to services.
First-time voter Jorah Bright was excited for the opportunity to vote in the election. This would have been her first year casting a ballot.
“When it came time for me to vote, I wanted to vote,” said Bright. “It’s going to be cool. It’s going to be awesome. I was really excited to have the opportunity.”
Bright had difficulty getting access to information to help her gain means to vote. Bright’s residency changed over the summer to a Manitoba residence. While she awaited final confirmation on her health card and driver’s license, she waited for her voter registration card to come in the mail. It never arrived.
The mail-in ballot deadline had already passed and Bright was unable to provide enough information to prove her residency to vote.
“I wish I had someone to ask questions to help me out at the time,” said Bright. “I had nowhere to turn to to fix this.”
Elections Canada states that individuals who vote their first year of eligibility are more likely to continue voting for future elections.
Bright states that there was not enough encouragement occurring on campus to get involved in the electoral process. She states many of her peers felt lost in how to start the conversation to become eligible to vote.
“You need a foundation of the first-time experience,” said Bright, “because if you don’t get that, then all of a sudden you’re 30 and you’ve never voted.”
Elections Canada has previously held campaigns to increase young voter turn-out such as the Vote on Campus program that debuted during the 2015 election. Votes raised from 69,000 votes in 2015 to 110,000 votes in 2019 in voters.
Reuters reported $612 million was spent on the federal election, making it highest federal election cost in history. The Liberal governments gained three seats in the final results, making them ten seat shy of a majority government.
Through an emailed statement, Elections Canada said the Vote on Campus program will be returning to universities for the next federal election. The Vote on Campus program was discontinued for the 2021 federal election due to limited time and COVID-19 concerns. Without the program there is no way to gauge how many post-secondary students voted. Voter turnout for ages 18 to 24 will be available in the Spring.
ATTENTION STUDENTS! Many of you have asked us about whether you’ll be able to vote on campus for #Elxn44. Due to the challenges brought on by the pandemic and the minority government situation, we are not able to run the Vote-on-campus program this election. 1/3 #CdnPoli pic.twitter.com/VI4Z2zmpnn
— Elections Canada (@ElectionsCan_E) August 25, 2021
President of the University of Regina Student Union, Hannah Tait explained how many students came with concerns about no access to polls on campus. Many students work part-time or casual hours which does not make them eligible for paid time off to go and vote.
“On campus it could take five minutes as a student goes about their day,” said Tait. “It could take between 30 minutes to two hours to do it for some people when there is no access to polls on campus.”
According to Elections Canada, voter turnout for Canada’s general population went down from 67 per cent in the 2019 election to 62.5 per cent.
“Young voters have the most to gain or lose,” said Tait. “We will be living with the ramifications of today’s decisions for decades to come. We need young voters who have a stake in the future to shape the direction of the federal government.
“We have an opportunity to set the priorities of the Canadian government if we vote and hold our Members of Parliament accountable.”
