170,000 Alberta students vote alongside provincial election

To help get students interested and informed about the provincial election, CIVIX Canada hosted an Alberta-wide Student vote alongside the provincial election.

More than 170,000 students participated, representing more than 1,340 schools and all 87 electoral divisions; the largest-ever Alberta Student vote campaign.

Elementary, junior high, and high school students were able to participate; class participation was at the discretion of the school and teachers.

Locally, Forestburg had Grades 5 and 6 participate, Killam had Grade 6 participate, Allan Johnstone school had Grades 7 to 9 participate, and Sedgewick had Grades 7 to 9 participate as well as the high school social classes. Daysland had participating students as well.

Students were not simply voting, however; they participated in the polling process as poll clerks, information officers, and DROs.

The students are then able to see the work that goes into voting, and the importance of jobs such as those. Brad Kyle, principal of Allan Johnstone school, says, “The student vote is great because it gives our Grades 7-9 students a realistic look into the electoral system through actual participation.

“They become part of the larger group of thousands of other students voting across the province and can appreciate the scope of running an election across the entire province this way.”

The students were, in general, excited by the idea of being able to voice their opinions. Sedgewick teacher Faye Oakes-Livingston says.

“I feel a large number of the high school students involved were very engaged.

“They had a variety of questions during the classes we worked on this in school and there were several full and frank discussions in the classes regarding party platforms on numerous issues.

“We have a number of students who are actually able to vote tomorrow and their enthusiasm is contagious. All in all, I feel the students have a very promising attitude towards voting.”

Giving students the ability to learn by doing allows for more interactive and memorable teaching, and also provides practical insight into applications for that learning.

It allows teachers to bring democracy alive, and to show the students how their votes can make an impact.

The students learned how to gather information about parties and to make an informed decision about whom to vote for.

Laura Pfeffer, a teacher at Forestburg school, says, “Students prepared for this election by learning about provincial government in class and by researching the candidates.

“Groups of students prepared slideshows to present to the class to share information about the parties running in our constituency.”

By showing students how to become informed voters, they are learning valuable skills for when they are able to vote themselves.

The students voted Monday, April 15, so CIVIX could get results out at by the time the true provincial election results were tallied.

Locally, students in the Camrose Electoral Division, with 1,936 voters; 45.76 per cent of them voted for UCP candidate Jackie Lovely. Kevin Smook retained the second highest number of votes, with 24.59 per cent of the vote, and Morgan Bamford came in third place with 16.37 per cent.

Wes Caldwell edged out Sandra Kim for fourth place, and Don Dubitz edged out independent Bonnie Tanton, with two per cent each.

Provincially, it was a much closer race.

Province wide, students voted a UCP majority, with 36.13 per cent of the vote, followed by Alberta NDP with 30.28 per cent of the vote.

The Alberta Party only came away with 18.45 per cent of the provincial student vote, enough for three seats, while the Liberals got no seats, and all the remaining eligible parties, plus a few who no longer exist, shared the remaining 10 per cent of the vote.