Elections NB outreach aims to boost student voter turnout

Elections New Brunswick hopes to make voting for post-secondary students as easy as possible for the Sept. 22 provincial election by increasing the number of on-campus polling stations, and allowing students to choose the riding in which they vote.

In an effort to increase participation among university and college students, Elections NB is allowing students to vote in either their home riding or the one in which they live during the school year.

"The hope is allowing students to vote in their home riding will lead to a higher turnout," said returning officer O'Neil Arseneau.

Although second-year University of Moncton nursing student Alyssa Levesque lives in Moncton, she has chosen to vote in her home riding.

"I voted in Restigouche West," she said. "In the summer time I live where I'm from. So I want to vote to where I'm from."

Gabrielle Bijeau, who is from Dalhousie, said, "I know more, like the people over there, and I want to support up north."

Students who opt to vote in their home riding are given a special ballot, where they simply write down their chosen candidate's name. The write-in ballots will be transferred to regular ballots in front of representatives from all the political parties, and will then be fed through a tabulation machine. The results will be added to the ridings on election night.

Elections NB has also roughly doubled the number of campus voting locations to 13. Open Sept. 15 to 19, the stations will be located at:

• University of New Brunswick campuses
• University of Moncton campuses
• Mount Allison University
• St. Thomas University
• New Brunswick Community College campuses (Shippagan students can use University of Moncton's Shippagan campus station)