Almost two weeks into the provincial election, the AMS and Elections Ontario’s Kingston and the Islands office are teaming up to raise awareness about the provincial election on campus.
Elections Ontario had voter registration booths set up in the residence cafeterias—Ban Righ Hall, Leonard Hall, and Jean Royce Hall—on September 12, 13, 17 and 18.
The booths targeted first-year students living in residence who had likely never voted before.
Over four days, 600 to 700 first-year students were ed to vote.
“We got quite a good response,” said Lois Edwards, returning officer for Elections Ontario.
Elections Ontario didn’t have a booth for upper-year students or those living off-campus to .
“The people that don’t live on campus will be treated basically like everyone else in the community,” Edwards said.
Elections Ontario will set up a polling station in Victoria Hall for first-year students who ed at their booths.
This is to make the transition easier for students who haven’t voted before, Edwards said.
Students not living in residence won’t be able to vote at Victoria Hall, but will find polling stations close to campus, such as one at St. James Anglican Church on Union Street.
“Students live all over the city so there’s absolutely no way we could have every student in the city vote at Victoria Hall,” Edwards said. “It would be a disaster.”
Every ed voter will receive a letter prior to election day telling him or her where to vote.
The AMS is holding several of its own events to raise awareness about campaign issues around campus.
This fall’s election comes with a referendum question asking voters if they want to change Ontario’s electoral system from a first-past-the-post system to a mixed-member proportional system.
“One of the things I think there’s very little discussion about on campus these days about is the referendum question, and that is something the AMS is trying to raise awareness about,” said AMS Academic Affairs Commissioner Alexi White.
These initiatives are meant to generate interest about the provincial election among students. Student voter turnout rate has historically been low, White said.
“It’s incredibly important to vote,” he said. “This is [students’] one chance to raise their voice and speak for themselves.”
Politics professor Margaret Little said provincial elections are important because the province is responsible for issues like education, welfare and health care.
“At least two of those policies have affected [students’] lives already,” she said.
Little said one possible reason for low voter turnout is that first-year students don’t feel connected enough with Kingston to vote in the city.
“I would think by second or third year, they should be able to make an informed decision because they know about Kingston by then and want to be involved,” she said.
Little said many Queen’s students are from privileged backgrounds and may have connections with candidates so they would be more willing to cast a ballot.
“My speculation is that Queen’s students do vote more than average university students,” Little said. “[They are] a highly engaged group of people.”
Andrea Chan, ArtSci ’10, won’t be voting on Oct. 10 because she doesn’t feel informed enough.
“When you actually don’t really agree with what you’re doing and you just vote for the sake of it, it’s just bad,” Chan said.
“I actually think that voting is a very good way of showing fairness … but it’s just that I’m not bothered and I don’t know anything about it.”
Antonella Rucchetta, ArtSci ’10, plans on voting in this election as she has in previous ones.
“If [non-voters] think it really doesn’t make a difference, that’s the exact attitude they have to conquer,” Rucchetta said. She said otherwise, even fewer students would vote and have less say than now.
“Just vote anyways, because maybe it will matter.”
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