After learning about the democratic process, researching the party platforms, hosting candidate forums and debating the future of British Columbia, students cast their ballots for local candidates.

101,104 votes were reported 690 schools representing all 85 electoral divisions across the province. In preliminary results, students elected an NDP government and a Liberal opposition.

The NDP won 54 seats, forming a majority government, and captured 38.54 per cent of the popular vote. Leader Adrian Dix won his seat in Vancouver-Kingsway, receiving 59.52 per cent of the vote.

The Liberals took 20 seats and 28.08 per cent of the popular vote. Premier Christy Clark lost in Vancouver-Point Grey, receiving 28.50 per cent of the vote. Clark was defeated by NDP challenger David Eby, who received 40.42 per cent of the vote.

The Green Party won 8 seats and captured 17.26 per cent of the popular vote. Leader Jane Sterk won her seat in Victoria-Beacon Hill with 42.81 per cent of the vote.

The BC Conservatives received no seats in the Student Vote, though they took 8.59 per cent of the popular vote. Leader John Cummins was unable to win a seat in his Langley riding.

Three independent candidates won their seats including John Van Dongen (Abbotsford South), Bob Simpson (Cariboo North) and Vicki Huntington (Delta South).

Students have voted for the same governing party as the adults in 16 out of 19 elections. However, students in British Columbia selected an NDP majority government in both 2005 and 2009.

VIEW COMPLETE RESULTS HERE: http://www.studentvote.ca/bc2013/results

The Student Vote Team

Students from as many as 765 schools will be casting ballots from all 85 provincial electoral districts. This includes more than 40 per cent of all schools in the province, and more than 60 per cent of all secondary schools.

Before we know the results of this Student Vote, let’s take a look back at previous provincial Student Vote programs in BC. In both cases, students elected an NDP majority government with a Liberal opposition.

2009

In 2009, more than 61,057 students cast ballots from 454 schools in 83 electoral districts.

The BC NDP won with 47 seats and 37 per cent of the popular vote. The BC Liberals formed the opposition with 24 seats and 29 per cent of the vote. The Green Party would have elected 12 candidates, receiving 27 per cent of the vote. Click here to see the full results.

In the actual election, the Liberals won a majority government with 49 seats, while the NDP formed the opposition with 35 seats.

2005

In 2005, 61,673 students cast ballots from all 79 electoral districts.

The NDP won a majority government with 45 seats and 35 per cent of the popular vote. The Liberals would have formed the opposition with 25 seats and 28 per cent of the vote. The Green Party won seven seats and took an impressive 22 per cent of the popular vote. The Conservative and Work Less parties each won one seat. Click here to see the full results.

In the actual election, the Liberals won a majority government with 46 seats and 46 per cent of the popular vote. The NDP formed opposition with 33 seats.

British Columbia students also cast ballots in the 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2011 federal Student Vote programs.

Check back in tomorrow to see the results of the 2013 BC Student Vote!

Dan

David Thompson Secondary

Grade 10 student Lila Berryman summarizes the all-candidates debate at Vancouver’s David Thompson Secondary School. Click here to see photos from the event.

What if teenagers could vote? Are their views and values that much different from adults? At DTSS, we’re having a Student Vote the day before BC’s election to find out. Rumours are flying far and wide. “Who will you vote for? What’s a Student Vote?” On day one, posters advertising the four main parties were tacked up around the school. My Socials teacher was right on top of teaching us about politics, and the pros and cons of the parties. She said how much popular opinions had changed over the years. As the day grew old and wrinkled, we learned that our small class of 12 will be running and scrutineering the student election.

On Monday, May 6^th, the Candidates Debate took place in the DTSS theater. Laurel Ralston from the Green Party, Doug Clovechok of the Liberals, Norm MacDonald, our NDP MLA, and Earl Olsen of the Conservative Party came together to give us their opinions on local matters. It was really illuminating for all those attending as to the nature of politicians, and politics in general. They always managed to sneak in the motto of their party, or the main statement of their platform, even if the question had nothing to do with it.

To be fair, they did make some good points, and, like a ski hill, all the parties clearly have their ups and downs. They all agreed with something or other that we, as a community, want done in our valley, and that got a few more people interested and sure of their opinions. I think that some of it went over a few heads though, just because the topics weren’t necessarily relevant or interesting to high-schoolers.

I know that myself and many of my classmates would have enjoyed seeing them actually discussing ideas with each other, like in the Leaders’ Debate, as opposed to simply replying to questions with answers that they didn’t necessarily seem to hold true in their heart of hearts. But that’s politics.

In the end, it’s a true learning opportunity for all involved, and I feel that the student vote is a valuable asset to encourage and educate the next generation of voters.

R.A. McMath Secondary

17-year-old Hagan Dietz-Rosales has sent us his recap of the Student Vote program at R.A. McMath Secondary in Richmond:

My high school is buzzing with excitement, and student volunteers are busy designing flyers and letting their peers know about our school’s May 13th vote—as well as the one on the 14th.

As a young person with an interest in politics, the lack of youth engagement becomes perpetually clearer the further I become involved. The most basic form of political engagement is exercising one’s right to vote; however, that form of engagement is unavailable to everyone under the age of 18. How are we supposed to get youth involved and excited if they don’t have access to that most fundamental form of democratic expression? The solution requires engaging this question on both a pedagogical and social level.

Students must be educated about our democratic customs, institutions, and practices as a prerequisite to engaging within our political system. It is the mandate of schools to foster our youth’s evolution into knowledgeable citizens—the understanding of our democratic tradition falls into that purview as well, and ought to be taught as rigorously as any other subject.

On a social front, new strategies have to be developed to agitate conversations between youth about politics. An organic dialogue is the most valuable way to interpolate students into politics. It will require a grassroots effort by organizations such as Student Vote BC to ensure that these dialogues occur. At my own school, I’ve had the chance to listen in on numerous conversations about Student Vote and our upcoming election. I’ve been surprised at the richness of the debate, and my peers’ depth of knowledge.

Ultimately, the more informed future citizens are, the more accountable future politicians will be when tackling tough issues that face our cities, our provinces, and our country. I’m glad I can be a part of a movement that affects positive change in our democracy.

Gleneagle Secondary School

Liam St. Louis is a student at Gleneagle Secondary in Coquitlam. He is also the Team Leader for his school.

On May 2^nd, students at Gleneagle Secondary School in Coquitlam got a taste of democracy.

500 students gathered in the gym to watch an all-candidate’s meeting between those running to be the MLA of Coquitlam-Burke Mountain. Present were the Liberal incumbent and the prime challenger, the NDP, as well as candidate’s from the BC Conservative, Green, and Libertarian parties.

Faced with the time constraints of fitting event in a single hour and 15 minute block, including time for students to enter and leave, we were unable to get through all the questions we had prepared. But still, it was a valuable exercise in exposing students to the people that are running for public office. The candidates faced challenging questions on education reform, dealing with the deficit, the environment, and the lack of good job opportunities, among others. The questions served to highlight some of the differences between the parties – but also to emphasize the similarities.

Immediately afterwards, all five candidates stayed in at lunch to speak to any more students who had questions that hadn’t been answered previously. With some 30 students in the room asking questions to the candidates, we were pleased to see so many students taking the initiative to go find out more about the people who might represent them.

All in all, we at Gleneagle Secondary are very happy and very proud to have had such a successful, exciting event for Student Vote at our school – and are even more excited to make this election a reality.

École Victor-Brodeur

Victoria’s École Victor-Brodeur has had several candidates visit during the campaign. Grade six student Sydney Adkins gives a recap of the Green Party visit:

On April 29th, Green Party candidate Susan Low came to our school to talk to the class about her political party. She explained that our resources will only last us so long, and it’s not that far away that we might be running out. What her party is trying to do is devise methods to replace or use with more precautions our non-renewable natural resources. She says what they are trying to do will take a long time but they will do little things along the way to save our environment. Our class has looked up some of the “little things” they are trying to do, such as double the amount of parks in the province, raise the price of carbon tax and build more bus stations. Overall, her presentation was very well done and she was incredibly respectful of us students and our questions.

Do you have a student who wants to share their Student Vote perspective?

Adrian Dix visits Westsyde Secondary School

BC NDP leader Adrian Dix visited Westsyde Secondary School in Kamloops. Student Vote Team Leader Jeremy Reid has summarized the day’s events:

Last week Westsyde Secondary School went from a little knowledge about our school’s Student Vote campaign to full out engagement.  Students started streaming in to the library to take their seats after lunch. At this point I lost count of the photographers and media that were present.

I received word that BC NDP leader Adrian Dix had arrived by the bus outside our school. The temperature in the library was starting to rise with about 120 students present.

How did we get to this point of being one of the scheduled stops of the NDP leader’s tour? We have a class twitter account (@BlueWaveWSS) that we regularly use to interact with politicians and media. We have been tweeting out student written questions to the local candidates and interacting with them.

Sometimes, we have the media or others tweet in on our conversations. I have found that by using social media in the classroom can help make learning about politics and government real to students. They especially like it when we tweet at the start of class and end up getting replies before the period ends. As a result of our tweeting we were contacted by the NDP leader tour to arrange a visit.

After he was introduced, Dix bounded down the library hallway like, well, a politician: shaking hands and waving. Dix spent the first 15 minutes talking about education, environment, student engagement in politics and post secondary education.

One of the local politicians remarked to me afterward that on the NDP bus, they discussed that the questions Dix faced were the toughest that he had faced so far.

So now our school wide Student Vote has gained more knowledge by the students, and it is sure to be one of our best. Plans are underway to have another candidate from the BC Liberal party visit us for more questions and answers.

All-Candidates Debate at Magee Secondary

Magee Secondary in Vancouver held an all-candidates meeting last Tuesday. Grade 11 student Carol Lee has provided us with a recap:

More than five hundred students attended Magee Secondary School’s Vancouver-Quilchena all-candidates’ debate.  We were for very fortunate to have Andrew Wilkinson from the BC Liberals, Matt Toner from the BC NDP (filling in for Nicholas Scapillati), Damian Kettlewell from the BC Green Party, and Bill Clarke from the BC Conservatives.  In addition we had the pleasure of welcoming numerous media outlets that attended this event, including Student Vote.

Overall, the all-candidates’ debate was very successful, with many students asking questions from the floor, as well as very well developed responses from the candidates.  This event helped students become more engaged on the importance of politics and voting.  Hopefully, when many of these students become eligible to vote over the next few years, they will be more aware in the issues and cast their votes accordingly.  We hope that on May 13, 2013 when Magee hosts its Student Vote that most students come out to participate in this event.

Finally, organizing the All Candidates Debate was an excellent learning opportunity for the twelve students who are involved in the Student Vote Initiative Team.  The team is made up of seven students involved in the Grade 8 and 9 Magee Leaders Program and five Grade 11 students, with the support of the teachers from the Socials Studies Department.

Once again, we would like to thank Student Vote for covering this event and giving us the opportunity to blog about our experiences and upcoming events in regards to the upcoming 2013 BC Provincial Election.

Carol also blogged about the debate for Global News.

It is never too early to empower our youth. As an elementary school educator in Chilliwack, I have been involved with Student Vote for 4 years. In 2009, my principal at the time called me into his office and handed me a box that he had ordered from Student Vote and asked me if I wanted to run an election with my grade 5-6 class. In the back of mind I could hear my dad’s familiar rhetoric, one he used to inspire my siblings and I around voting time, “Women chained themselves to fences for the right to vote….” He was trying to impress upon me the need to honour those who have gone before me in the struggle to have their opinions recognized. I took the package from my principal and started a journey to demystify the election process and remind my students that their voices need to be heard.

My students and I have now participated in the 2009 provincial election, the 2010 federal election, the 2011 Chilliwack-Hope by-election, and will be joining more than 760 other schools by voting in the 2013 provincial election.

When I host an election at school, I like to invite all candidates to present to my students before they make their final decision on Student Vote Day. If you are considering hosting a Student Vote election I would say the opportunities for authentic learning experiences are second to none.

Here are my top 9 tips for hosting a Student Vote election:

1. Contact candidates early – their schedules can fill up quickly.
2. Stop by campaign offices and introduce yourself. Candidates are more likely to agree when they hear you are reminding students of their rights and responsibilities as Canadian citizens.
3. If you need contact information for your candidates try contacting your local newspaper.
4. Use Ustream to stream your presentation live to participating schools in your riding.
5. Encourage parent participation by inviting them to watch the candidates speak. Here is a sample letter I sent out this year.
6. Engage your students in the process by collecting campaign materials and information on party platforms.
7. Debrief what each candidate has spoken about and display the information so students are able to make their final decision.
8. Recreate a polling station in your classroom/school and have your students use election resources like privacy screens, ballot boxes and ballots to recreate voting day.
9. Compare and contrast the results of Student Vote Day to actual voting day in your riding.

Christopher Lister

The Student Vote team waits for the official close of candidate nominations, as set by Elections BC. This is when anyone wishing to stand as a candidate for election as an MLA must have the appropriate paperwork submitted and approved by Elections BC. For this general election, that date was April 26. While many candidates had been unofficially nominated far in advance of Writ Day, there were a few individuals that only became candidates just before the deadline. This is why it is vital we wait until the close of nominations before printing our ballots, to ensure their complete accuracy.

You can see a full list of candidates on the Elections BC site, right here.

Once the candidates are nominated and the ballots are printed, our team races to ship them to schools. Every registered school should be receiving their ballots early this week, if they have not done so already.

We are very excited for schools across BC to receive their ballots and for students to vote on Student Vote Day. If you’re a registered Student Vote Team Leader and you have any concerns about your package, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our Victoria team’s goal is to ensure you have absolutely everything you need to run a smooth parallel election.

Katie

Signs can be a great way for us to learn who the candidates are in our electoral district. But they can also be a blight on our landscape and become a contest of “more is better.” Our intern Megan wrote about this debate in her blog “Campaign Signs: Awareness or Annoyance?”

Here are a few news stories about how communities in BC are dealing with campaign signs:

• “Chilliwack moves to tighten election sign bylaw,” Chilliwack Progress (March 21, 2013).
• “Who’s got the most signs wins. Not!,” North Shore News (March 31, 2013).
• BC Conservative candidate Scott Anderson “vows to reduce sign pollution” (April17, 2013).
• “Thieves target election signs,” AM 1150 (May 8, 2013).
• “Election signs ripped off, knocked down and destroyed,” Maple Ridge News (May 8, 2013).
• “Election signs disappear in south Nanaimo, Ladysmith,” Nanaimo Daily News (May 8, 2013).

The Vancouver Sun is tracking which blocks across the province have the most election signs. Citizens can submit their own reports.

There are also some creative uses for election signs. The Province recently wrote about candidates in Vancouver-False Creek using dog jackets as campaign signs in their predominantly urban riding. The Langley Times reported about a gentleman who used old campaign signs to create children’s beds, in an effort to recycle. And a group in Montreal published instructions on turning old campaign signs into birdhouses.

Elections BC has specific instructions for the placement of election signs. They cannot be placed within 100 metres of a District Electoral Office, or 100 metres of a voting place when voting is being conducted. Municipalities should also be consulted about by-laws regarding the placement of or limits on the size of election signs.

For more complete details on Elections BC’s policies about placing election signs, please refer to the Guide to Election Communications for Third Party Advertising Sponsors (page 15-16).

Have you seen any creative uses for election signs in your community?

Katie

Liberal Premier Christy Clark, NDP leader Adrian Dix, Conservative leader John Cummins, and Green Party leader Jane Sterk met to square off on major election issues like pipelines, the provincial budget, job creation, climate change, health care and leadership.

The ninety minute debate featured questions from the moderator, viewer questions submitted through email and Twitter, open discussion and one-on-one debates between the party leaders.

Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer believes that Clark was the “most polished” throughout the debate, but feels that “Dix remains in control.” The NDP hold a large lead in the polls over the Liberals.

A post-debate poll by Ipsos Reid for Global News shows that 35 per cent of respondents thought the NDP won the debate, compared to 30 per cent for the Liberals. Sterk was deemed to be the most likeable, and 44 per cent of people thought Clark “looked and sounded the most like a Premier.”

How will you be incorporating the debate into your classroom? Here are two of our ideas:

Classroom Exercise: Show the leaders’ debate to your class. Use our worksheet to track where each leader stands on the major issues.

Classroom Exercise: Want to create your own leaders’ debate? Use our Bitstrips activity to build a comic strip featuring the four party leaders.

To watch the debate in its entirety, click here. Click here for a two-minute recap.

Do you have a student who wants to share their reactions to the debate? Let us know!

Dan

Magee Secondary, Vancouver

Magee Secondary is holding an all-candidates debate tomorrow. Grade 11 student Carol Lee has provided us with a preview:

I am a representative from the Magee Secondary School Student Vote Initiative Team.

In addition to the Student Vote, we will be hosting an All Candidates Debate in our school Auditorium.  The candidates representing Vancouver-Quilchena area attending this debate include Andrew Wilkinson from the BC Liberal Party, Nicholas Scapilatti from the BC NDP, and Damian Kettlewell from the Green Party of BC.

We have also confirmed the attendance of the Conservative Party representative Bill Clarke.  Clarke was elected a Member of Parliament for the Vancouver Quadra riding in 1972, 1974, 1979, and 1980.

At this event, students and the Magee community will be given the opportunity to ask appropriate questions to the representatives and will be able to listen to the candidates’ debate important subjects and problems facing BC. They will introduce their platforms and inform students on the party’s plan and reforms.

On May 13, 2013, in the afternoon, all students will be given the opportunity to vote for the candidates of their choice at Magee’s own Student Vote.  We would like to thank the Student Vote organization for their continuous support.

Carol will also be blogging for Global News throughout the campaign. You can read her first blog post here.

Hillcrest Middle School, Coquitlam

Hillcrest students Evan and Alex wrote about their experiences meeting the Liberal and NDP candidates in their riding:

On Tuesday April 23rd, Selina Robinson, NDP candidate for MLA of the Coquitlam–Malliard riding, came to Hillcrest to talk with us about local politics and what experiences have helped prepare her for public office. She told us how she ended up becoming a politician, and gave us a bit about her past. She was also telling us some reasons why we should vote for her, and also her plans for if she wins the election.

Steve Kim, candidate for the B.C. Liberals spoke with us on April 24^th. He explained how his parents were actually among the first Korean immigrants to come to Vancouver. They had opened the first Korean food shop. He said how great his childhood was growing up in Coquitlam, and said that he quite enjoyed it here. After he graduated from university in Canada and completed a graduate degree in Korea.  Then, the students started asking him questions about what he was going to do about the issues of today.

We really appreciated the time that Steve and Selina spent with us – we had a rich conversation after their presentations and the students have even more hard questions about provincial debts and balancing social needs with revenue generation.

You can read the blog in its entirety here.

Is your school holding an all-candidates meeting, or inviting candidates to speak to students? Let us know!