- by Grace Madill, Madison Rayner, Emily Schmidt
Ms. Day’s grade 10 civics class at Owen Sound District Secondary School ran Student Vote. Student Vote is important because it allows the students to gain experience in the voting process. Prior to the vote, our class did research on all the candidates, and created posters to hang up in the halls. All students from grade 9-12 could vote, but they weren’t required to. After the vote was over, results and voter turnout were calculated giving us an idea of what future elections will look like in Owen Sound.
The results from the student vote at OSDSS were similar to the Owen Sound municipal election. For Mayor, Ian Boddy won in both elections with 55.6% of votes from Owen Sound and 58.9% of student votes. For Deputy Mayor the results were different; at the OSDSS student vote, Brian O’Leary won with 62.6% of votes, while at the Owen Sound election, Scott Greig won with 62.5% of votes.
The councillors had different results as well; in the Student Vote, Jon Farmer (13.7%), Travis Dodd (11.2%), Jeffery Caldwell (8.8%), Melanie Middlebro’ (8.6%), Carol Merton (8.3%), Jasmine Schnarr (7.8%), Brock Hamley (7.7%) was elected. In the municipal election Jon Farmer (12.0%), Travis Dodd (11.9%), Carol Merton (10.8%), Melanie Middlebro’ (10.5%), Brock Hamley (9.8%), Marion Koepke (9.3%) and Suneet Kukreja (8.9%) were elected for the positions.
The Bluewater District School Board Trustee had the same winner; Michael Craig with 52% of student votes and 65.1% of municipal votes. Therefore, there was the difference between the municipal vote and the OSDSS student vote for 2022, but the results were somewhat similar.
This year's 2022 Student Vote at OSDSS and the 2022 Owen Sound municipal election both had somewhat similar voter turnouts. Re-elected mayor Ian Boddy stated that due to the outbreak of Covid-19 these past few years had affected the overall voter turnout, but the results are still low. Out of the 15,960 eligible Owen Sound voters only 6,230 did, resulting in only a 39% turnout, which is even worse than 2018's 44.32% voter turnout. The opportunity to vote in the Owen Sound election is a privilege to have, so why did only less than half of the available voters in Owen Sound vote?
Our Student Vote had more promising results than the municipal election with a 56.1% voter turnout. Out of the 692 possible grade 9, 10, 11, and 12 students that could have voted 388 did, which isn’t great, but still gave much better results than Owen Sounds’ election.
Taking 20 minutes out of your day to skim over a few campaigns won’t cause any harm, so why hasn’t Owen Sound achieved better outcomes yet? These overall voter turnouts for Owen Sound are not going to change anything for the town. If we want Owen Sound to become a place that is more appealing, welcoming, and safe for current and future generations, these voting turnouts need to increase.
Overall, Student Vote shared some similarities with the municipal election results. Student organizers hope that Student Vote experiences will help high school students transition into active citizens who participate fully in future elections.
We valued the experience of organizing an election. We look forward to a time when adult voter rates are as high as Student Vote.
