Alberni District Secondary School civic studies students lobbied voters to get out to the polls in the last municipal election and now they want to do the same with the provincial one.
Dubbed “If voting doesn’t matter to you, then clothes shouldn’t either” the initiative seeks to increase voter turnout during the next provincial election in May.
ADSS teacher Anne Ostwald’s Civic Studies 11 class has already undertaken several initiatives to launch the project.
They’ve written a letter outlining the plan to school district superintendents.
Students have also written to Port Alberni city council asking them to provide free transit on voting day so more voters can get to polls.
And in a lighthearted move, they’ve written to BC milk companies asking them to write ‘MISSING: Your Vote’ on their milk cartons.
The class is also linking up with like-minded students by joining Student Vote (studentvote.ca), which is simulating a provincial election involving students under the voting age, and coinciding with official election periods.”
And students have created a preoject Fcebook page Want To Increase Vote Participation.
Ostwald’s students also plan to host an all-candidates meeting at ADSS theatre as the election nears.
BC is plagued with voter apathy, disenfranchisement and poor turnouts at the polls on election day, particularly votes aged 18 to 25, Alberni-Pacific Rim MLA Scott Fraser said.
“If this doesn’t empower young people to become voters in the future, I don’t know what will,” Fraser said of the students’ initiative.
reporter@albernivalleynews.com
Twitter.com/alberniNews