Voting polls will return to university campuses starting Oct. 15 and promotional materials have already been distributed amongst students.
Posters and tent cards can now be found on bulletins and tables around St. Thomas University as part of Elections NB’s Campus Tour program.
Nicole Georges, the campus outreach coordinator for Elections NB, worked with STU’s student union (STUSU) to help get information to students to ensure that they can be as educated as possible about the upcoming elections.
“Having resources available and just making things easier for everyone to see and understand information about campus voting is really important,” said Georges.
An election poll will be hosted on STU’s campus from Oct. 15 to 17, between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day in Sir James Dunn Hall (JDH).
Students are able to vote in the upcoming elections if they meet the requirements of being a Canadian citizen, at least 18 years of age and have been residing in New Brunswick for at least 40 days prior to the Oct. 21 election.
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Originally being contacted by Elections NB in May, STUSU president Ellie Namit worked with Georges to coordinate student ambassadors to help promote the election on campus.
“Just having a friendly face, one of your peers, somebody who you feel a lot more comfortable coming up to and being like ‘hey, I’m confused, can you give me a bit more information?’ is a lot less stressful than trying to do so once you’re at the polls,” said Namit.
STUSU hired three ambassadors who can be found giving students information about the election in front of the student help desk in JDH.
Two ambassadors, Genevieve Brideau and Suzanne Shah, are both proud to be able to promote the election to their peers.
“I think it’s important for students to use our voices and vote and I was happy to be a part of the process of getting students more encouraged to be involved,” said Brideau.
Polls were not available on campuses during the last provincial election in 2020. The return of on-campus polls will make voting more accessible for students.
“We’re just trying to make voting a lot more investable for everyone … one of the most important things about the voting on campus is just to have a more accessible place for people to vote,” said Georges.
Both Shah and Brideau are pleased with the return of on-campus polls because of the convenience for students and increased comfortability of having them in a familiar environment.
“By having polling on campus, a space where [students] come to every day, it makes it easy for them to access it and very easy to know how it works out,” said Shah.
The Campus Tour program is all Taylor Swift themed in the hopes of grabbing the attention of younger audiences.
The tagline “Are you ready for it?” is in reference to a Taylor Swift song and the six squares that outline the voting process are tied into her Eras tour branding and represents the different ‘eras’ of the voting process, according to Georges.
“It’s just a way to target the younger generation, get them excited about voting and that it’s not something that should be daunting or stressful, especially for first time voters,” said Georges.
The importance of students ensuring that their voices are heard was emphasized by Namit.
“It’s really easy as a young person to feel like our voice doesn’t really matter,” said Namit. “We might not have quite as much experience as everyone, but we’re facing the exact same repercussions as everyone else.”
