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Area students participate in mock provincial election vote

Results mirror the real election with Glenn van Dijken and the UCP coming out on top, but the UCP losing provincially
jemiah-sarmiento-grade-10-copy
Barrhead Composite High School Grade 10 student Jemiah Sarmiento casts her vote May 29 in the school's student election.

BARRHEAD - The United Conservative Party (UCP) and Danielle Smith may have won a majority government, however, if Alberta elementary and high school students are any indication, their days in government may be numbered because students would have chosen the NDP to form a majority government.

As of Monday, May 29, at 6 p.m., more than 170,000 students cast their ballots as part of the Student Vote program with the NDP taking 42.1 per cent of the overall vote, winning 47 seats, and forming a majority government. The UCP won 40.4 per cent of the popular vote, which was good good for 38 seats.

Smith and Rachel Notley won their prospective seats in Brooks-Medicine Hat and Edmonton-Strathcona. No other parties won seats, but students did elect independent candidate Funky Banjoko in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo. Students also elected controversial UCP candidate Jennifer Johnson, who compared transgender students in schools to feces in food during a September 2022 speaking engagement to the Western Unity Group in Stettler about “The Hazards of the Public Education System and Homeschooling/Pod Schooling as a Solution, with just over 50 per cent of the vote. Premier Danielle Smith has stated Johnson will not sit with the UCP caucus.

In the Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock riding, students selected UCP incumbent Glenn van Diken who took 65.93 per cent of the vote with 1,215 ballots, while NDP candidate Landen Tischer received 37.07 per cent of ballots cast with 628 votes. In the actual election, van Diken received 74.3 per cent of the vote compared to Tischer at 25.7 per cent.

Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS) students cast the most ballots, with Grades 7 to 12 participating and van Dijken receiving 347 votes compared to Tischer's 107.

At Barrhead Elementary School, only Grade 6 students participated, with van Dijken again coming out on top with 49 votes compared to 26 for Tischer.

Neerlandia Public Christian School students cast 75 ballots, 58 for van Dijken and 17 for Tischer. The pattern remained the same for Swan Hills and Dunstable schools, with the bulk of the votes going to van Dijken. At Swan Hills School, 42 of the 45 ballots cast went to van Dijken, while only three students voted for Tischer and the NDP.

The results were just as lopsided at the Covenant Canadian Reformed School, in Neerlandia, where all but three of the 93 votes went to van Dijken. In Dunstable, 11 votes went to the UCP compared to five for the NDP. Fort Assiniboine School did not participate.

BCHS teacher Graham Schole arranged the mock vote for his school.

"It is the second time doing a student vote," he said, noting the first was when he was at Redwater School for the 2019 election.

He noted that although all the students benefit from participating, he said, it is especially helpful for Grade 9 students who learn about Canada's electoral system in social studies.

"So it is the perfect time for them to see how things work and run the show themselves," Schole said.

In Westlock, R.F. Staples students cast 237 votes for van Dijken and 134 for Tischer, while Westlock Elementary School students cast 41 for van Dijken compared to 18 for Tischer. At Pembina North Community School, 36 students voted for van Dijken and 20 for Tischer. In Clyde at Eleanor Hall School, it was a much closer race, with van Dijken topping Tischer by nine votes, 30 to 21. The results for St. Mary Catholic School were not listed on the Student Vote website.

In Athabasca, at Edwin Parr Composite High School van Dijken bested Tischer 99 to 59. However, the closest race at a school in the Town & County readership area was at Rochester School where it was a dead heat with van Dijken and Tischer tied at 16 votes each.

Student Vote is a program of CIVIX, a non-partisan registered charity dedicated to strengthening democracy through civic education.

CIVIX programming focuses on elections, government budgets, elected representatives and digital media literacy. Participating schools receive free learning materials and election supplies such as activity guides, posters, an election manual, ballots and ballot boxes. The project was completed with the support of Elections Alberta, the Government of Canada and the Alberta Teachers’ Association. This is the fifth election that Alberta schools have participated in the program.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com

 


Barry Kerton

About the Author: Barry Kerton

Barry Kerton is the managing editor of the Barrhead Leader, joining the paper in 2014. He covers news, municipal politics and sports.
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