The Vote : High School Seniors Opinions On The Provincial Election

by Carissa Fortin

[dropcap]P[/dropcap]Politics. Voting. Having the freedom to choose. These are all things associated with the upcoming election. As a young person who now has the chance to vote, I have taken some time to think about this. I haven’t decided who I am going to vote for. I think I have an idea but I am not sure yet. When I first started thinking about how I wanted to do this article, I decided that I wanted to get the opinion of other senior students as well.  What was interesting to me was that most of the seniors are not old enough to vote.

Survey Results from 36 students:

1. Gender?: F. 64% M 33% Other 3%
2. Able to vote?: Yes 31% No 50% Maybe 19%
3. Care who wins?:  Yes 61% No 39%
4. If voting (31 plan to) do you know who to vote for?: Yes 32% No 55% Maybe 13%
5. Do you know who the candidates are?: Yes 49% No 51%
6. Do you know what the parties stand for?: Yes 57% No 43%
7. Do you know what the candidate stands for?: Yes 63% no 37%
8. Do you feel you vote is important?: Yes 66% No 34%
9. Do you feel the issues important to youth have been addressed by any candidate?: Yes 24% No 76%

These results made me realize that most of the seniors at my school are uneducated about the election. We do not know enough about this election to make an informed decision. I did this survey twice and my answers barely changed except for a couple of small changes. After researching, I still haven’t made a decision on who I’m going to vote for. As a young person in this society, my survey proved that in order for those who are 18 to make a decision, we need more information. Although the issues that are important to youth are being talked about, we still don’t know who to vote for. It is easy for someone to say “ Pick someone”. But as this is our first time voting, we want to make the right decision.