New Majority aims to increase the number of new and first-time voters in elections across Canada. They’re focused on encouraging young people to vote in New Brunswick’s general election.
New Majority is a national, nonpartisan, non-profit organization that has working teams in Fredericton and Moncton in efforts to make the voting process easier for students amidst the upcoming New Brunswick general elections that are scheduled for Oct. 21.
Janie Moyen is the national organizer for New Majority and is currently on St. Thomas University’s campus trying to help students with the voting process.
“We’re going around all of campus seeing if people have time to talk to us or get conversations going,” said Moyen.
This includes giving out surveys to gather information on what students want and what they’re thinking. New Majority is going to be on campus until the election on Oct. 21.
STU will be hosting a voting poll in Sir James Dunn Hall from Oct. 15 to 17, between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
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Amanda Munday is the executive director of New Majority and acknowledges the importance of seeing an increase in young voters in the upcoming elections at both a national and provincial level.
“When youth show up in numbers to the polls, politicians are more likely to listen to issues that matter to young people because they’ve shown up and used their voice,” said Munday.
Some of the ways that New Majority hopes to help increase student voting for the upcoming election is through walking students to polls and encouraging discussion amongst potential voters through relational organizing.
For New Majority, relational organizing, or ‘vote tripling,’ is a paid position for students to connect with other students about voting in the election.
According to Munday, youth voting turnout declined by seven per cent between the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Statistics Canada reported that Gen Z and Millennial voters will be the electoral majority in the next federal election.
When outlining why young voters should be more engaged in the upcoming elections, Munday emphasized that voting is a good way to take action on a multitude of issues.
“There isn’t one specific reason, it’s more like the issue that matters to you if you want some agency,” said Munday. “Climate, health, affordability, racism, rent, cost of living, these are all issues that come up and yet we don’t necessarily see young people showing up to the polls.”
“I think the youth have more power than they think, and one way to use that power is for change,” said Moyen.
Both Munday and Moyen talked about how New Majority tries to make voting a less stressful experience for young voters.
“It’s about making it easy and fun and not another thing that the youth have to worry about,” said Munday. “We like to look at things like your vote fit, or running to the polls with a running club, or high fiving and candy when talking to volunteers.”
Moyen said that the non-profit organization doesn’t want to be ‘really aggressive or intimidating,’ but are still heavily encouraging people to get their vote in for the Oct. 21 election.
“It’s about owning your part in Canadian society, whatever you want that part to be,” said Moyen.
