SAIT gets ready to Vote on Campus for the next federal election

Election Canada rolls out Vote on Campus, but SAIT is not yet on the list

SAIT will still not have a voting office on campus for the 2019 federal election, according to Elections Canada.

Seven other post-secondary institutions in Alberta are selected to have a voting office, including NAIT (Northern Alberta Institution of Technology), Bow Valley College, and the University of Calgary.

Elections Canada rolled out the Vote on Campus program in 2015 as a pilot project to involve more youth voters, setting up temporary voting offices across 39 post-secondary institutions. This year, Vote on Campus is expanded to 109 campuses, but SAIT is not on the list.

“Currently, the reason why SAIT did not obtain an advance polling, or any polling station, is that we do not have the room that has the capacity to fulfill Elections Canada’s need for their voting station room,” said Garrett Koehler, the Vice President External of SAITSA.

“I tried very hard, I was able to obtain it for the provincial election, but I wasn’t able to obtain it for the federal. It is quite unfortunate.”

Koehler said that there are construction plans for a new student union building that could fit the voting station in, but the construction continues to be pushed back.

“My mandate is one year,” says Koehler. “By one year, I’m looking to establish a relationship with Elections Canada, so in four years we might be able to get it.”

A SAIT student thinks that Vote on Campus is not a concern.

“I don’t think it’s necessary … it is an important matter, but students are more focused on classes and exams,” said Aveneet Brar-Sran at SAIT. “I’m happy with maybe a voting stand somewhere here, but not an office.”

“Empowerment, and also proximity and accessibility are the major factors that get the students to vote.”Adam Brown

On the other hand, Adam Brown, the Board Chair of Canadian Alliance of Student Association, said that having the polling stations on campus is about students having the access to vote, which he believed to have contributed to the 12 per cent jump in the youth voter turn-out between 2015 and 2011 federal election.

“Just making sure that the students have as much accessibility and proximity to a voting booth makes it so much easier for them to vote,” said Brown during a phone interview.

“Empowerment, and also proximity and accessibility are the major factors that get the students to vote.”