Final push to get out the vote on Lower Mainland campuses

SURREY (NEWS 1130) —  Advance voting was available on campuses across the country from Oct. 5 to 9 but a campaign organizer at Kwantlen Polytechnic University says the push to get out the vote won’t be over until the polls close.

David Piraquive, president of KPU’s Student Association, says volunteers will be busy making phone calls and sending emails reminding students where, when and how to cast their ballots Monday. In the lead up to the election, volunteers distributed voter pledges which their peers signed.

“We’re there kind of just to nudge them,” he explains, adding that he’s seen an uptick in political engagement since the campaign to get out the vote started.

“Especially with a lot of my friends who typically don’t vote I’ve seen a lot of engagement. They start talking more about politics.”

He says the campaign is non-partisan and doesn’t endorse any candidate or party, instead, they talk to students about what matters to them and encourage them to vote for whoever they think will best address their concerns.

“Climate change, housing, the cost of tuition, transportation–those are the main issues,” he says.

Piraquive and KPU joined the national effort to get out the student vote for the 2015 election, and says it was a success.

And the data bears this out.

Statistics Canada said in a 2016 report that the voting rates of Canadian aged 18 to 24 years old increased by 12 percentage points between the 2011 and 2015 elections — a bigger bump than that among older voters.

RELATED: Student groups launch nationwide get-out-the-vote push ahead of federal campaign

Piraquive says it’s possible that enthusiasm has dampened since then but he is still hopeful the campaign will be a success.

“One of the reasons that I think it might be a little bit less than 2015 is mainly a little bit of disappointment from the Liberal government when it comes to promises,” he explains. “I know a lot of people had high hopes.”

Nevertheless, he says his social media feed is flooded with voting-related posts and he’s seen an uptick in energy.

“I have seen a shift–and this is just anecdotal–with the rise of Jagmeet Singh I do see more students being more engaged and more young people getting excited. But it could just be just me and my own little bubble.”

With files from the Canadian Press and Azzaya Khan

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