Oct. 28th is an important opportunity to help decide the future of Saskatchewan, and an even greater opportunity for future voters to learn about the democratic process.
Students at Ecole St. Mother Teresa School are participating in a mock election to get a better understanding of what voting is like.
“It’s surprising how excited young kids are to really get into politics, start learning about campaign promises and party platforms and all that. And it’s really cool to see them start to kind of formulate what they think might be a good leader and to think about who they might vote for when they’re adults,” says teacher Rebecca Hammel.
Students echoed the importance of the mock election.
“Well, it’s important because one day we will be the people voting. And it’s just important to start early so that we know what happens. So when we actually go into the real thing, we can have an idea of what’s going on,” says Nevaeh, a student taking part in the mock election.
Jacob, a student at Ecole St. Mother Teresa added “the legal age, to vote right now is 18. And it’s best that they learn when they’re younger so they’ll know how to how the voting process works. And politics really interests me. So when I learn about this, it makes me want to engage in politics more,”
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Hammel says the mock vote helps students prepare for when it’s their turn at the polling stations.
“We can kind of take learning about politics and elections out of textbooks and give them firsthand experience so they can really try it out for themselves. So, it really increases their understanding and their engagement,” Hammel says.
The significance of this election isn’t lost on students like Jacob, who expressed their election concerns.
“If one of them gets elected and they raise in the inflation, that’s a big concern for me because I’m growing up soon and seeing I’m going to have to buy stuff of my own,” says Jacob. “And … if whoever gets elected raises inflation taxes, I’m going to have a tough time,”
Hammel hopes the mock election creates more engaged voters for future elections, adding students’ votes will offer more perspective to the actual election results once they’re counted after election day.
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