Students will have their vote on Monday.
Although they might not be of age, more than 180,000 elementary and secondary school students in British Columbia will become election officials on Monday as they cast ballots for their favoured candidate in their electoral districts.
In Prince George, 25 schools will be taking part in the Student Vote BC program.
And students are eager to have their say.
"This is important because we live in a democratic society," said Faith MacKay, principal at D.P. Todd secondary school.
The Student Vote BC program is a hands-on learning program that encourages democracy in the classroom. The goal is to teach and empower students about the importance of voting, the voting process and how to be an engaged and active citizen.
Students learn about government and democracy, engage in discussion, examine research issues, party platforms and candidates.
They then go on to perform roles of election workers and coordinate the election process for their fellow students.
Heather Tandy, a teacher at Hart Highland elementary school, says her Grade 6-7 students are very excited about the program as they prepare to run the election at the school for students in Grades 4-7.
"Students have been asking lots of questions, like 'What does growth of the economy mean?' and 'What are the softwood lumber disputes all about?' There have been lots of opinions formulating and this is a really good thing for 11- and 12-year-olds. And students have been taking their conversations home too," Tandy said. "Kids are getting a sense of their role in democracy."
On Student Vote Day, students will cast their ballots and the results will be tabulated by electoral district officials and released publicly at the close of polls on Tuesday (8:00 p.m.).
A total of 1,221 schools have registered to participate in the program representing all 87 electoral districts, making it the largest student vote program in the province to date.
According to the civic engineering charity CIVIX, a survey of participating students at the beginning of the campaign concluded that healthcare was their top election issue (20.1 per cent), followed by poverty (17.1 per cent), education (15.6 per cent), affordable housing (14.2 per cent) and the environment (13.5 per cent).
The Student Vote project for the 2017 British Columbia provincial election is conducted in partnership with Elections BC and with support from the BC Teachers' Federation, the Vancouver Foundation and the Government of Canada.
CIVIX is partnered with Elections BC. It provides authentic learning opportunities to help young Canadians practice their rights and responsibilities as citizens.
Schools participating in Prince George are: Prince George secondary school, Heather Park elementary, Hart Highlands elementary, Spruceland elementary, Malaspina elementary, Highglen Montessori, Peden Hill elementary, Southridge elementary, D.P. Todd secondary, Vanway elementary, Blackburn elementary, Nukko Lake elementary, ecole Lac des Bois, Quinson elementary, Edgewood elementary, Van Bien elementary, Glenview elementary, College Heights elementary, Kelly Road secondary, Heritage elementary, Harwin elementary, Duchess Park secondary, Westwood elementary and Ron Brent elementary.
For more information about Student Vote BC, visit: studentvote.ca
