If kids had had a say in Tuesday’s election, it would have been a much tighter race between the NDP and Green party in New Westminster.
Students in the Royal City went to the polls earlier this week in a parallel provincial election – Student Vote 2017. The mock election is run by CIVIX, an organization aimed at teaching students about civic responsibility that has been around since 2003.
In the race for New Westminster, NDP incumbent Judy Darcy came out on top with 949 votes, but her victory was in no way a blowout. Darcy won by a mere 100 votes as 849 students voted for Green party candidate Jonina Campbell, according to Student Vote results.
Over in the ’Boro, kids at Queensborough Middle School chose NDP candidate Aman Singh as their clear winner. Singh received 135 votes (or nearly 55 per cent of the popular vote) compared to the Green party candidate’s 58 votes.
(Johal was declared the winner in the real election.)
In all, 2,386 students from 10 schools across the district cast ballots in the Student Vote.
Teacher Librarian Lorena Jones organized the vote at New Westminster Secondary School. She was impressed with the turnout and engagement from students. About the results, which hadn’t been released when she spoke with the Record, Jones wouldn’t outright predict how the students would vote. Instead, she suggested students are often more optimistic than adult voters.
“The thing with youth, they’re generally more hopeful,” she said. “This is a vote for the future.”
Click here for full results from Student Vote 2017.
Number of ballots cast by riding and school:
New Westminster:
New Westminster Secondary School: 627
École Glenbrook Middle School: 567
Fraser River Middle School: 391
Lord Kelvin Elementary: 159
Richard McBride Elementary: 159
École Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary: 90
Connaught Heights Elementary: 70
New Westminster Secondary School (adult learning): 46
Hume Park Homelearners: 30
Richmond-Queensborough:
Queensborough Middle School: 247
