While the rest of the province is heading to the advanced polls ahead of the provincial election on Oct. 26, students all across Saskatchewan have been preparing to do the same thing for a mock election — including two classrooms of Grade 12 students at Vanier Collegiate.
Vanier is joined by 12 other elementary and high schools in Moose Jaw to participate in the Student Vote program this year, which is a mock election organized by the non-partisan charity CIVIX to encourage learning about democracy for school-aged youth.
Student Vote runs just like the official election, with real ballots and polling stations run by students volunteering as election officials.
The results will be released at the same time as the official election results when polls close on Oct. 26, and while the students’ ballots won't be included in the official results, the program is always interested to see how the Student Vote outcomes differ — or line up — with the rest of the province.
Social studies teacher Doug Panko and University of Regina intern Kyla Hambly are heading up the program at Vanier this year, with two classes of senior students headed to the mock polls on Friday afternoon to exercise their voter’s rights.
For Hambly, she was impressed by the prior knowledge her students already had about the democratic process.
“They had a very good understanding of the democratic process already, I think Mr. Panko has taught them well throughout the year leading up to today,” said Hambly. “They were quite familiar with the process and how it all works.”
Hambly and Panko spent the weeks leading up to the mock election discussing party platforms, election procedures and the important issues facing the province with students.
Students got an in-depth walk-through of the election process: how to register to vote, where to find their constituency’s candidates, how to weigh the issues and platforms, and how Saskatchewan’s political system works.
Throughout the whole process, she said there was definitely one important topic that students were passionate about.
“We looked at all the party platforms, for the parties running here in Saskatchewan, and definitely education was a big issue [for them],” said Hambly. “Even post-secondary education was something they looked for in platforms, because that would benefit them.”
Hambly felt like the Vanier voters were well-prepared heading to the polls on Friday afternoon, and she was hoping to see a majority voter turnout after the engagement she saw in classrooms.
Student Vote has 420 schools across Saskatchewan participating this year, representing all 61 of the provincial constituencies, which is an increase from the 273 schools that took part in Student Vote during the 2016 provincial election.
