Young people excited to cast ballots at U of A advance federal election polling station

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Judy Zhu voted for the first time on Monday.

The 18-year old computer science student didn’t have to leave the University of Alberta campus to do it, either.

Elections Canada has set up campus voting stations all across the country, and they’re open until Wednesday. On Monday morning, the polling place in the basement of the U of A’s Students’ Union Building was busy. There were a dozen polling stations, each with attendants there to help students locate their ridings. Before the lunch rush, there were short lineups as young voters waited for their chances to cast their ballots.

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“It was really important to stay up to date with current events and do the research not only nationally, but with the specific candidates in my riding, too,” said Zhu, who lives in the newly created Edmonton Northwest riding.

Zhu’s interest in the federal vote defies the trends. Elections Canada said that only 46.7 per cent of eligible voters in the 18-24 age range cast ballots in the 2021 federal election, making it the least-engaged demographic in the country. This year, Elections Canada is bringing the election to universities and colleges across the country, approximately 120 in total. The Vote on Campus program includes post-secondary institutions that have more than 4,000 eligible voters who could cast ballots.

Electors provide their permanent home addresses — a dorm is considered a temporary home — and they’re matched with the proper ridings. Because a voter could be voting in any of the country’s 343 ridings, that person has to write in the name of the selected candidate. Outside the SUB voting area, a few students were on their phones, looking up the candidates in their home ridings.

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For Zhu, voting right after she wrote an exam is way more convenient than taking a bus to her Edmonton Northwest polling station on April 28.

She said the ongoing trade and tariff issues imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump is the most pressing issue.

“I think seeing how Canada responds and mitigates the cost of that conflict is important.”

Like Zhu, 19-year-old Kat Riedlberger voted for the first time. She’s in her home riding of Edmonton Strathcona.

“I can come after my exams are finished, and it makes it a lot easier, for sure,” she said.

And, like Zhu, Riedlberger is also concerned about the ongoing cross-border strains with the United States. But that wasn’t the only thing on the mind of the psychology student.

“The big issue is definitely the tariffs and our relationship with the United States,” she said. “Also, a big issue for me is education, especially because I’m a university student and I worry about fees increasing. And I would also say that I care a lot about rights, especially for more discriminated-against groups. I know transgender people was a hotly contested debate, and that’s important to me.”

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Teyton Soll is an engineering student at the U of A but hails from Grande Prairie. He is thankful for the polling station on campus.

“Having the polling station here is convenient because I can just walk in here and do it instead of having to wait till I get back home,” said Soll, 20. “I’m voting because I guess, it’s, well, important.”

Faith Merryweather is a 21-year-old engineering student from St. Albert.

“It’s about making my voice heard, as a part of the younger generation. I’m excited to have the opportunity to vote right now, and I think the younger generation needs to make their voices heard. I don’t know if the campaigns are speaking to us necessarily, but I feel it’s still important to us.”

Youth vote moving to the right

A Nanos poll released earlier this week indicates that 41 per cent of voters 18-24 intend to vote Conservative, while 37 per cent back Liberal Leader Mark Carney. It defies the accepted logic that youth tend to take their votes in a left-leaning direction.

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Jaian Dhebar, the outreach director of the Canadian Conservative Youth Association, urges students to “don’t vote alone, vote with a friend.” While the youth polling numbers are good for Pierre Poilievre, the challenge is to get those supporters to the ballot boxes. A supporter who doesn’t vote ends up meaning absolutely nothing.

Dhebar said that young people are concerned about not being able to afford places to live after they graduate. And he said they are also impressed by the folksy approach of Poilievre’s rallies.

“What I see in Pierre Poilievre’s rallies that is different, we didn’t even see this from Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, is that he doesn’t stand behind a podium. He stands in a square in the middle of the room, and he’ll turn and face all four sides of the room.”

This was true at Poilievre’s rally in Nisku last week. After former prime minister Stephen Harper introduced Poilievre, the podium was removed and the Conservative leader held the mic in his hand, and regularly shifted around so he could address all parts of the warehouse in which the rally was staged,.

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Hayden Henderson, the outreach director for Canada’s Young New Democrats, is hopeful that young voters will still head left.

“Young people have a lot at stake in this election,” he wrote in an email. “When I talk to my friends — whether they’re politically engaged or not — they’re anxious about the future and they’re looking for leaders who will fight for them. Young people want to be able to afford rent in the cities they love and eventually save up to buy a home. They also want real, bold climate action.”

Henderson said the NDP is specifically targeting the youth vote.

“We’re running digital ads on all platforms and have launched a new initiative to engage young people through the creators they listen to and trust. The momentum is real. We’ve got stellar young candidates, dedicated volunteers, and strong youth support across the country.”

 ssandor@postmedia.com

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