Advance polls for federal election open on campus this weekend
Students will be able to vote in advance for the Federal election on campus
Helen ZhangStarting this Saturday, students will be able to cast votes for the Federal election by special ballot in the Students’ Union Building.
An Election’s Canada office with the ability for people to cast a ballot — regardless of what riding they live in — for the federal election will be open in the Cascade Room in SUB basement on Saturday, October 5 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m and then Sunday, October 6 from noon to 4:00 p.m. The polls will also be open the following week from Monday, October 7 to Wednesday, October 9 starting at 10:00 am and closing at 10:30 p.m.
To vote, students will need ID and also have the opportunity to register to vote at the polls rather than online. These will be the only polls held on campus for the election.
According to Students’ Union vice-president (external) Adam Brown, the Get Out The Vote campaign has 5,800 students who have pledged to vote, though 4,000 pledges were carried over from the provincial election. This does, however, mean the University of Alberta has the most pledges nationally out of all other participating students’ unions. With this in mind, Brown is hoping to exceed the number of voters from the last provincial election.
“In the provincial election, we had 7,635 votes cast in the SUB polling station,” Brown said. “It was open to the public, but it’s safe to assume the majority of that were students. I would be over the moon if we exceed that number.”
Brown highly encourages students to vote and emphasized the power student voice can have.
“If we are going to be a society in Canada with a healthy democracy we need to pushback on the stereotypes that ‘youth don’t vote’ or ‘ they all vote for the same party,’” Brown said. “A motivated informed vote has a lot of weight behind it.”
“If there are two million post-secondary students in this country and everyone one of us that are able to vote feel like they have a voice, that’s when the difference will be made — not when only a few of us feel that but when all of us feel that.”
