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Nanaimo high school students cast their votes in mock municipal election

Dover Bay Secondary School students’ mock election ballot results posted
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Julia Morris, a Grade 11 student at Dover Bay Secondary School, marks off her choices from a list of actual city council and school board trustee candidates during a mock municipal election held at the school Wednesday. CHRIS BUSH/The News Bulletin

Voter turnout was particularly high when Dover Bay Secondary School students cast their ballots in a mock election Wednesday.

Grades 8 to 12 took part throughout the morning in the exercise as students marked their choices from a list of actual city council and school board candidates.

Voting was done according to the rules and processes citizens proceed through to cast ballots in real elections, such as the municipal elections to be held Saturday, Oct. 20.

“Teachers will bring down individual classes one at a time and then they go through,” said Gillian Holmes, Dover Bay Grade 10 student and chief electoral officer for Wednesday’s exercise. “They get their names checked off, they get their ballot and it’s pretty much a mock election as it would be for adults that are voting, so it’s been a really good process and a lot of learning to go around.”

Holmes said she got involved with organizing the event because she believes it’s important for young people to participate in elections.

“It’s good to get kids out there and doing their own research about different candidates that are around and then learning about the whole process that takes place and they’ll have a little more experience when they start voting.”

The mock vote was organized with help from the school’s student council and Alistair King, social studies and economics teacher and other teaching staff.

“I believe, firmly, that young people – if given the chance to exercise their democratic right to vote as a young person – are more likely to be an active participant in society when they get older and … I want to give the experience of voting, so that when they go into that voting booth for the first time, hopefully at the age of 18 or 19, they’re not overwhelmed with what’s going on. That’s a thing that we take for granted after we’ve voted a few times.”

King said the school’s social studies and English teachers had access to a lesson plan he created, that included a spreadsheet with all the candidates’ information, platforms, social media posts and their positions on issues.

“Some of the students who are walking in here, they’re very informed. They’ve talked to their families, their parents about who they’re voting for,” King said. “Some of the students aren’t and I think that kind of reflects society in general, right?”

Julia Morris, Grade 11 student, said going through the exercise was good practice and a little scary, but fun.

“I think it’s important to exercise our right to choose who runs Nanaimo and it’s good practice to do as students for when we’re adults so we know what to do and we don’t show up at the voting … being like, ‘Oh, no,’ but know, and look smart because we know what to do.”

Theo Christianson, Grade 12 student, volunteered as a voting clerk.

“I believe in learning the democratic process as young as possible is always great,” Christianson said. “Exercising the right to vote, especially in local elections, that really affect you more directly than, say, voting for federal elections.”

Christianson said it was good the exercise focused on local politics and issues currently being debated, such as homelessness and public housing that are having an impact on the community.

How the students voted were to be made public after the ballots were tallied after press time Wednesday.

“These ballot boxes are sealed and double-checked and protected and we’re going to count the votes in a very legitimate way. It’s all very formal,” King said. “I hope the kids have made some good decisions, from my point of view. We had a couple of candidates today were interested in coming down here today and I said no, this is a formal voting experience , no campaigning allowed and they respected that.”

The students ‘elected’ Leonard Krog as mayor and chose as councillors, in order of vote count, Sheryl Armstrong, Tyler Brown, Don Bonner, Jerry Hong, Brunie Brunie, Guy Beaulieu, Ben Geselbracht and Michael Ribicic. School board trustee candidates chosen by students, in order of vote count, were Bill Bard, Greg Keller, Charlene McKay, Lisa Marie Barron, Hunter Ehrismann, Tania Brzovic, Chantel O’Neill, Stephanie Higginson and Jessica Stanley.



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Chris Bush

About the Author: Chris Bush

As a photographer/reporter with the Nanaimo News Bulletin since 1998.
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