St. Thomas University works to get out the vote

It's the question that pops up at every election: why don't young people vote?

Federal parties are hoping to reverse that pattern in the final weeks of the campaign.

Historically, people between the ages of 18 to 24 have had the lowest turnout at the polls.

Only 38 per cent showed up to vote in the last federal election 

If you ask students on campus, they have a number of reasons, ranging from, "My mailing address is back home and it can be a bit of a pain" to "Nobody really knows about anything and people aren't really interested."

But the tide might be changing, at least, that's how St. Thomas University student union president Megan Thomson feels. 

"This is the year of the student vote," she says.

The student union at the Fredericton university has been asking students to pledge to vote in the upcoming election, and has been promoting its efforts with various events on campus.

"We are looking to get a thousand pledges from STU, which would be enormous," says Thomson.

"What we are hoping for is an about 80 per cent of eligible voters."

STU's full-time enrolment in 2014 was 2,070, according to the Association of Atlantic Universities.