Students disadvantaged by voting system: candidate
Posted Oct 10, 2012 07:57:10 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
One of the candidates vying for the student vote in Halifax Regional Municipality says the advance voting system puts the university crowd at a disadvantage and makes it less likely that young people will cast a ballot.
The voter registration cut off was Aug. 24, but Waye Mason points out many students only move back into the city around Sept. 1, thus missing the registration date.
“If our target is to get young people involved in voting and make it easy for them – the Facebook generation, the Twitter generation, than unfortunately I think the timing is bad,” Mason told the Rick Howe Show Tuesday.
To register, voters must produce photo identification with a name and valid address, or a piece of photo ID plus proof of address such as a power or phone bill. Those registering must also swear an oath. Voters can register at any city library between now and election day, Oct. 20.
“Students now have to go down to the library on Spring Garden Road to register so they can get a pin number, then go home and vote,” Mason said. “I think it’s pretty unlikely they’re going to go down to the library to register for electronic voting.”
The candidate for District 7 (South Halifax) suggests the system would be improved if the registration date and the start of advance voting were both pushed back by about a week.
Advance voting started on Oct. 6 and is operating 24-hours a day, seven days a week until Oct. 18. Residents can vote online or by telephone only.
Approximately 15,000 people voted during the first three days of the advanced session, that’s about five per cent of the total electorate.
