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Published on: 10/5/2007
Last Visited: 10/5/2007
Taylor Gunn, chief electoral officer for Student Vote, said approximately 2,000 Ontario schools are involved in this Ontario election.
"We expect somewhere over 300,000 students to vote in the election," he told The Intelligencer.
Gunn was involved in starting Student Vote for the 2003 Ontario election.There were 335,000 student votes cast in that election.
The Student Vote program has been run in schools across Canada for the last five federal and provincial elections.More than 1.2 million ballots have been cast in every province and territory.
"The purpose of Student Vote is to increase levels of civic literacy and simply provide a parallel election experience to students under the voting age so that they may be more excited and inclined to vote in the future," Gunn said.
He noted that if students understand more about the electoral process, it is much more likely they will become lifetime voters.
"We have to build a habit of participation so that when they turn 18, they will understand the process and participate," Gunn said.
Even though voting is now taking place in area schools, Student Vote results won't be made public until after the polls close Oct. 10 at 9 p.m.