Local students are seeing red: Student Vote puts Liberals first in mock election

It may not count toward official totals, but local students voiced their opinion in an election that paralleled Canada’s 42nd federal election.

Student Vote is an exercise undertaken in schools across Canada that provides an opportunity for students to “experience the voting process first-hand and build the habits of informed and engaged citizenship” according to the program’s website.

In the Huntsville area, 805 students cast ballots in the mock election:

• 465 at Huntsville High School
• 27 at Huntsville Alternate Education and Training Centre
• 107 at Huntsville Public School
• 17 at Irwin Memorial Public School
• 19 at Pine Glen Public School
• 46 at Riverside Public School
• 48 at St. Mary’s Catholic Elementary School
• 32 at Spruce Glen Public School
• 57 at V.K. Greer Memorial Public School

Of the votes cast at the high school, 168 were for the Liberals, 141 for the Conservatives, 83 for the Green Party, 28 for the NDP, 19 for the Pirate Party, 10 for the Canadian Action Party, and 3 for the Marxist-Leninist Party, with another 13 ballots rejected. (Read Doppler’s earlier stories on the student vote and why of-age, first-time voters at the high school chose to vote in the federal election if you missed them the first time around.)

The results echoed those across the Parry Sound-Muskoka riding, which saw students cast 1301 votes (37.11 per cent) for the Liberals, 907 (25.87 per cent) for the Conservatives, 713 (20.34 per cent) for the Green Party, 392 (11.18 per cent) for the NDP, 111 (3.17 per cent) for the Pirate Party, 55 (1.57 per cent) for the Canadian Action Party, and 27 (0.77 per cent) for the Marxist-Leninist Party.

Student Vote is the flagship program of CIVIX, which bills itself as “Canada’s leading civic education organization building the skills and habits of citizenship among young Canadians.” The organization partnered with Elections Canada for this year’s Student Vote, bringing it to schools across the country for free. Registered classrooms were provided with teaching materials and voting supplies.