'Next generation' of P.E.I. voters to take part in student mock federal elections

Students at 48 P.E.I. schools will be heading to the polls right before the federal election.

Most Island students are too young to cast a real vote in the election next month, but they will still fill out a ballot in what could be the largest student mock election P.E.I. has seen.

It is all part of the Student Vote program by Civix, a non-partisan national charity with the goal of building skills and habits of engaged citizenship in young Canadians.

"We're actually on track to have our biggest program to date in the province, which is super exciting," says Frédérique Dombrowski, outreach and stakeholder manager with Civix.

She said the student vote is a parallel election for kids under voting age, and they will cast their ballots a week ahead of the federal election.

Island numbers increase

There were 42 Island schools and about 5,500 students that participated in the program during April's provincial election, Dombrowski said.

They tend to make the decision that they believe is best for their generation.— Frédérique Dombrowski

"This is our second school year in a row where there is an election in Prince Edward Island," Dombrowski said.

It helps when an election is happening during a school year, because teachers and students have voting and the program in mind, she said.

As authentic as possible

Schools with students from grades 4 to 12 can register online. Teachers are provided with free resources and election materials including ballot boxes. The materials and funding for the program comes from Elections Canada, Dombrowski said.

"They also recreate polls inside their school where students are invited to take on the role of election officials and cast ballots for the real candidates that are running in their school's riding," Dombrowski said.

"We really try to recreate as authentic an experience as possible."

The student election results are withheld until the official election polls close, because the group works with Elections Canada and cannot be viewed as influencing the official election in any way, Dombrowski said.

Dombrowski said mock voting has an important effect on students, when the results are released with the official election results.

"They really feel like their vote and their parallel vote matters," she said.

Political pulse

The community at large, and specifically politicians, are always interested in how students vote in the parallel election, Dombrowski said.

"These are the next generation of kids that are actually going to be 18 either in a few months or in a few years," she said.

Dombrowski said the mock elections had often mirrored the official results, but that may not be the case this time.

"Recently, we had some elections where students had a completely different idea of who they wanted to see in government," she said.

In the student vote during the provincial election, students had the Green Party forming government, and the PC Party forming opposition, Dombrowski said.

"Once we give them the tools to be able to critically think about their country, they tend to make the decision that they believe is best for their generation. So I am really curious to see how this one is going to go."

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