Kamloops elementary students cast votes in mock election

For the past few weeks Grades 4 to 7 students have been learning about the candidates and the election process.

“I think it’s actually a very interesting process because there are multiple steps and it’s actually really confusing,” said Nora, a student voting officer in the mock election, “but we have learned different ways to teach the children how to navigate the votes and who they’re going to choose.”

“It’s very complicated, and a lot of people want to say what the people want to hear so they’ll vote for them,” said seventh grade student Anglin. “But then on the other hand a lot of people do have issues that they want to solve in Kamloops which I think is good that they do want to do that and they have their own views.”

The student voting officers ensured each student knew how to cast their vote and each vote was kept confidential.

“We tally the results and we send them into Student Vote and they will be released after the election on Saturday,” said Beattie Elementary teacher, Beth Morgan.

The students will then compare their election results to the adult vote, noting which issues were more important to youth.

“Our class voted on a few main issues we would like to discuss, what the candidate loves and what frustrates them about Kamloops,” Anglin said. “Snow removal budget, should it be increased or should it stay the same? Homelessness and supervised sites.”

The purpose of the Student Vote program is to show youth how they can make a difference in civic, provincial and federal elections.

“Statistics show that if kids are involved in politics when they’re in school that they’re more likely to vote when they graduate,” Morgan said.

“If people vote then they’re going to have politicians that people like and they’re going to do what people want,” said voting officer Pedro.

“Then you get a say in what’s going to happen in your community,” added Nora, “and what changes are going to happen and how you’re going to deal with current issues.”

by Jill Sperling

Kamloops elementary students cast votes in mock election

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