Gathering municipal student votes, a core issue
Rahman Mohamed

As voting day for Ontario municipalities nears, campaigns grow more intense. Whether it’s gathering student votes or bringing election awareness, the student vote is starting to take centre stage at York University.

The York Federation of Students (YFS) has been in Vari Hall regularly, raising awareness about the municipal election and asking students to sign a pledge that they’ll vote on Election Day. Advance polls opened on October 14, 2014 across Ontario. The City of Vaughn held advance polls on October 14 and 15 at the Bear Pit.

On October 20 CBC reported a record turnout in Advance Polls, more than twice as many voters as last year.  It will have to wait until after election day to determine the demographics.

The most recent twist: the York student group in support of Olivia Chow whose transit plan calls for more buses, is a close second in polls today with John Tory, calling for “surface subways”.

Outside the Student Centre a newly formed student group was handing out brochures on October 9 about Olivia’s transit plan, answering questions about her campaign, telling them about advance polls, and asking students to give their email and home address to be put on an email and informed about their poll on election day.