Vote Mobs: York and Queen's

Vote mob at York! I like that they actually went to the polls and filmed it :)



Queen's U vote mob! They didn't include the former prison farm animals...

Vote Mobs: USask and U of T Mississauga

USask:



ORIGINAL SONG ABOUT VOTE MOBS!!!!! I'm excited :)

UofTM:



I like how they all crowd on the bus at the very end!

Vote Mob Extravaganza Continues: UBCO & Kelowna, Brandon, Brock, Regina

UBC Okanagan & Kelowna vote mob got all their candidates out, which is awesome to see. Also: how are three of the four candidates women?? I have never seen this before but it makes me happy!



I LOVE the song choice for Brandon U's vote mob! (Although, apparently, Stephen Harper plays it on his tour bus. Finally, something Harper and I can agree on: classic rock.)



Brock's vote mob is particularly patriotic, although I was terrified someone was going to step on the flag!



I like Regina's mascot. Is that... a gopher??? (Update: Ok so it's apparently a cougar who interrupts pirate duels and marriage proposals in order to get people to vote. WIN for most awesome mascot ever!!!)



With all the vote mobs today, it's really got me thinking that one of the really nice parts of this is being able to see universities across the country. Like Brandon University for example--I've heard of it, maybe, but I don't know anyone who goes there and I never gave it too much thought, and now I get to see all the awesome and creative and politically engaged students. And all the vote mobs running across campus, through libraries and food courts and student unions, that's really really neat to see. It's too bad it's such an icky time of year--I know my campus shows up best in fall when the leaves change. Maybe we can do this all again next time!

Vote Mob Spectacular: Concordia, SFU, and Vancouver Superheroes

I very much appreciate Concordia's Lonely Island song parody. (Wait for it, wait for it…)



SFU's vote wall draws attention to the very important and often ignored issue of student debt.



Vancouver Superhero vote mob: delightfully silly!

Vote Mob at Acadia!

Awesomesauce. Liked the creativity with the individual students in the beginning!

A few last things before the advance polls open

1) All you need to vote is proof of identity and proof of address. That's a government-issued photo ID and, if your driver's license has your parents' address on it but you want to vote at school, a piece of official mail with your address. You can find out more at Elections Canada. If you're not sure where to vote, Vote.ca is a really easy-to-use resource.

2) If you're still undecided, Apathy is Boring has handy-dandy summaries of the platforms of each the 18 parties running candidates this election. (For example, the Rhinoceros party: "Democracy Reform: Voting areas will be decorated and soft music will be played"; the Christian Heritage Party: "Women's Rights: The CHP is the only pro-life party in Canada today"; the Marxist-Leninist Party: "Defence and National Security: Withdraw Canada from NORAD and NATO".) Seriously, check it out.

3) Find yourself a vote date! "Vote, Actually" from Lead Now:



4) Results of the latest poll. Absolutely shocking.

5) Another analysis of the latest poll results. Still shocking. It's shaping up to be a potentially historic race!

6) It's illegal to publish election results on the Internet (including Facebook and Twitter) when polls are still open in some areas of the country, in case it influences voting in those regions. Tweeters are fighting back. If you live in BC you probably won't have to worry about this.

7) Elizabeth May with Paul McCartney and... a baby? Anyway. I bet Stephen Harper feels silly for singing all those Beatles/John Lennon songs now, knowing they're friends of Pierre Trudeau and Elizabeth May. Via Vintage Voter.

8) The vote mob movement made it onto the BBC! You know you're newsworthy when. Perhaps we shall set off an international student movement. ...yeah, right.

Well, as far as I know that's it. For those of you who are planning to vote in the advance polls, as I am, happy voting to you!

UBC and Waterloo Vote Mobs!!!

Vote mob at UBC! Love the intro :)


Vote mob at Waterloo! What's with the giant vegetables??

Carleton Vote Mob/The Movement Gains Strength!

Here's the Carleton University vote mob.  I love the intro with Rick Mercer and George Strombolopoulos!



Also, by the way, #votemob is a trending topic on Twitter right now. Oh yeah! WIN.

Here's the piece on vote mobs from the CBC on Friday, it's worth a watch.

MUN Vote Mob is a Circus of Awesome

Seriously. There's hoola hoops and juggling and just generally a high level of awesomeness.

The Youth Vote & the Mainstream Media

So… we've been in the media quite a bit lately, and by "we", I mean young Canadians who intend on turning up to the polls (or at least are thinking about it). First there was the coverage of the vote mobs, and then the "Facebook ejection", and now people are actually listening seriously to what we have to say! I know!

I have to admit, every time I see something about young voters in the mainstream media I get really excited. Like you know when you're watching an American tv show and they mention Canada and you get really, inexplicably excited? And you know you probably shouldn't be so excited, because Canada is the world's second-largest country, and a member of the G8, and otherwise important, and also right to the north of the US and one of its biggest trading partners, so you know they're aware of us, even if they're 25 thousand times more likely to mention a European country. Or Mexico.

I feel like this is probably a sign of alienation. When I get this excited to see my social group acknowledged by mainstream media.

Maclean's explains that while the youth voter turnout is, in fact, declining, it isn't declining as quickly as the overall voter turnout or the turnout of voters in their 40s and 50s. This is reassuring, as I kind of hate being blamed for everything that's wrong in this country's democratic process. They also point out that the election of 38-year-old Naheed Nenshi as mayor of Calgary suggests Good Things for the political engagement of youth.

Then there's Decision Canada on Web 2.0 campaigns and ordinary Canadians getting involved on Youtube. Okay, maybe this isn't strictly a youth issue, but it is something I'm involved in (i.e. this blog, my Twitter, and my YouTube channel. (Also: this link has a few of the key viral videos of the campaign--the Harper/Emperor Palpatine speech, the promotional video for shitharperdid.com, Stephen Harper as a creepy Facebook creeper, and the Our Country Conservative/Tea Party ad.) This article ponders why and to what end most of the social media attacks have been on Harper:

Greg Elmer, a Canadian Internet politics researcher, said the disproportionate number of anti-Conservative successes is likely a reflection of Harper's continued health in the polls, and the creative community's historical lack of support for his policies.

But even if YouTube has become a virtual whipping post for the Conservative leader, Elmer noted that it may not have the effect desired by those leading his flagellation.

"To be attacked online can sometimes be a good thing, in the sense that you're getting more attention," said Elmer, a professor of new media at Ryerson University.

"And there's a lot of foul language in some of the (anti-Harper) videos, which some voters might find that offensive. It might, in fact, reinforce their support for a party with more traditional conservative values."

Interesting. Although I don't think that the demographic these videos are aimed at will mind the language. Also, "the creative community's lack of support for his policies" or "his policies' lack of support for the creative community"? Chicken-and-egg.

And then there's this reflection on advance poll vote mobs, which operate on the idea that if you mobilize people with the vote mob and then send them to the polls right away, they'll probably be more likely to actually give up the twenty minutes of their day. According to one of the organizers at the University of Ottawa:

Hill said he thinks youth are not apathetic, but rather alienated. He said politicians overlook issues that youths care about, such as the environment, student debt, and post-secondary education.

"The idea is that if we want to see real change on Parliament Hill and if we want youth to see politics that is reflective of their values, then we need to engage them politically," Hill said.

And the first step of engaging youth in politics is getting them to vote, he added.

"It's the beginning of the process of engagement. And ideally, once you get people voting, especially if the person they voted for wins, they'll want to see if they follow through with their promises."

YES. Thank you. I love it when people affirm my opinions in public forums.

Finally, Steve Paikin had a special edition of The Agenda on Thursday about youth vote and political engagement, with six commentators all under the age of 30. It was wonderful to see. It's a bit long, over 45 minutes, so if you don't have the time/patience, I was a nice person and took point-form notes about the most interesting things they said.

• This election comes on the heels of the prorogation of parliament and the G20, both cases where youth were active and engaged (if only on Facebook) but their voices were not heard.
• There is no legal way to display political disaffection (ie spoiling your ballot is illegal), so young people might be abstaining from voting instead.
• The media is unfriendly to political leaders who say anything too radical or different--this may drive down voter turnout and youth interest, since young people tend to be the most highly ideological. Also leads to homogenization of political parties.
• Young people who feel informed feel a duty to vote, while people who are less informed feel like voting would be irresponsible since they don't know enough to make an informed vote, and so abstain. Also, more differentiation between parties and candidates increases the sense of duty with regards to voting.
• A lot of youth don't like Harper (in reference to shitharperdid.com) but the election is being fought over budget issues and things that might be better settled by a referendum.
• Youth are less likely than older adults to believe that politicians will keep their election promises, so they're less likely to be swayed by election promises.
• Campaigns to try to increase youth voter turnout are usually not run by youth, and usually run by people who couldn't imagine not voting, so they're not usually very persuasive.
• Parties end up patronizing young people by treating them as a homogenous group or assuming they don't care about any issues that don't directly affect them (education, youth employment, etc.).
• Is a 1.5% change in the corporate tax rate a big enough difference to actually get people motivated to vote?

Anyway, I really liked that show, and I think that it could have gone on for longer. Everyone there clearly had so much more to say. It's kind of sad to think that young people get one 48-minute segment on TVO to express their opinions, and other than that we have to highjack the attention of mainstream media with vote mobs in order to be heard.

Personally, I think that a lot of young people these days care passionately about things, but those things aren't necessarily electoral politics. I know so many amazing young people who are involved in philanthropy and volunteer work, or going to build schools and houses with Habitat for Humanity and so many other organizations. And yes, I do know a group of people who are passionately dedicated to electoral and parliamentary politics. You may have noticed I'm one of them. I'm originally from the National Capital Region, where federal politics were easy to enter into since pretty much everybody's parents worked for the federal government when I was in high school, and Parliament dominated the front page of the newspaper (except for when the Sens were on a winning streak). I find myself regularly surrounded by other people, like myself, who follow political news obsessively and attend all-candidates meetings and treat Election Day like it's a giant party. Young people who dream about forming their own political parties when they're in high school--better political parties than the ones we have, ones that go back to the old values of MPs who represent their constituents, first and foremost, rather than their party. Young people who run for mayor even though they know they'll never win. So yeah. I think, that given that young people already care passionately about things, and some already care passionately about our government, mobilization of the youth vote isn't an impossible task.

I like that they said that young people don't vote because they're not informed about the issues, because that reaffirms what I'm trying to do here. And you want to know why your vote matters? Okay, I shall tell you why your vote matters:

Vote Mobs: Calgary and McGill

First off, the official video for the University of Calgary vote mob. Bonus points for singing of O Canada!



Here's the footage from the vote mob at McGill University:



They've tagged the Université de Montréal in their video. uOttawa tagged the Université de Québec à Montréal. So far it seems that vote mobs are a phenomenon only at English universities (and in English cities! See if there's one near you!) other than uOttawa, which is a bilingual university. I hope francophone youth throughout the country step up too!

We're "doing it"

VICTORY

Article from the Globe & Mail reproduced here in full.

Oh geez, Rick Mercer, what have you started?

There you were on national television urging Canadian kids to get off their butts and vote.

And suddenly students across the country, inspired by the way kids the University of Guelph reacted to your rant, were putting together these things called vote mobs.

The students at the University of Victoria did it.

The students at the University of Ottawa did it.

The students at UNBC did it.

So did students at the University of Calgary and at McMaster University and at McGill University.

And more vote mobs are being planned at the University of Waterloo, and Queen’s and Carleton and the University of Toronto and Yukon College and UBC.

They’ve even got a web page.

And they are using Facebook and Twitter to organize these things.

Now, if there is one thing worse than having mobs of unruly kids expressing an interest in democracy, surely it’s having them actually take part in an election.

Remember last time, when only 37 per cent of eligible voters between 18 and 24 turned out to the polling stations on election day? Remember how easy it was then for political parties to tailor their platforms to the people they can count on to cast large numbers of ballots – the seniors?

Now what are they going to do? They are going to have to start talking about things like the environment and drug policy and tuition.

Well thanks a lot, Rick. Thanks a heck of a lot.

Time For More Vote Mobs! UNBC and Calgary

UNBC vote mob on CKPG News:



University of Calgary vote mob on OMNI:



...and on The National:



The awesomeness spreads!

uOttawa Vote Mob

Extra points for going to the Centre Block!

Some Resources

Check to see if a vote mob is happening at your school. And if they are, go. And if they aren't, plan one.

A really good summary of things you should know when you vote, including how to register, how to vote as a student away from home, etc.

A list of all registered federal parties.

Vote Mob Time! UVic and McMaster

Vote mob at the University of Victoria:


Coverage of the McMaster University vote mob on CBC's The National:


Also, this. I have no idea what it is, and I'm not sure whether or not to be amused.

Looking Deeper

One of my favourite things about being a student is having all of these people, in a very small geographic area, learning about and becoming specialists in all sorts of different things. And then whenever you talk to people, they're all coming at the issue from very different perspectives and backgrounds.

"I'm actually not a fan of the Liberal platform," a friend of mine, majoring in Global Development Studies, mentioned recently. "It's so focused on numbers and money. A lot of social problems just can't be reduced to the economics of it."

I pointed out that the government's job is basically to allocate resources, so the money side of things is really all they can look at, beside making or changing laws. She shrugged.

"I just don't like this focus on the deficit. I feel like they're going to end up cutting programs that provide a lot of good services to communities. You know who's platform is really well thought out? The Green Party."

Fair enough.

Another friend, a business student, told me, "I was reading the Liberal platform, and I wasn't very impressed. They're so focused on getting rid of this deficit, they want to get rid of it too soon. Carrying a deficit isn't necessarily a bad thing. We're so used to hearing about the deficit in the 90's, which shouldn't have happened because our economy was in a good place. But when the economy is doing badly, being leveraged gives you a lot more flexibility."

She explained that worrying about keeping a balanced budget in tough economic times makes you afraid to spend, and the government should spend because it's easier for it to take a hit and go into deficit than it is for individuals to go into debt due to losing their jobs or not having the same social programs.

"The Conservatives are promising to get rid of it sooner," I said.

She rolled her eyes. "Their economic policy has always been for less tax, less spending, and whatever sounds good to the average person, who is not a trained economist. They're pandering to get the votes."

This post isn't intended to be for or against any particular party. I just want to encourage you to approach the party platforms critically, and talk about them with people who are coming from a completely different perspective. Discussion is healthy!

Student News

Students at McMaster participated in a flash mob that was allowed into a Conservative rally. True story. "The fact that they let us in today represents that they are listening, they're aware of the student vote," said one of the organizers. Yay student power!

Some people are upset advance polling coincides with Easter weekend. "It's the sheer stupidity of it," says one lady. Personally I think it's genius. Lots of students are going to be heading back to their hometowns for the weekend, whether or not they celebrate Easter, so it's the ideal time to vote in your home riding if you choose to do so!

Democracy à la Braveheart?

Well, the University of Guelph is being pretty awesome these days.  First there was the flash mob; and now this:

It looked like a scene from Braveheart, with more than 250 University of Guelph students standing on a hill overlooking Stephen Harper’s campaign stop in the southwestern Ontario city Monday.
Instead of blue face paint like the storied Scots, their faces were striped red and white. Along the line, a lone bagpiper played an uplifting reel.
Soaking from the pouring rain, the students carried a banner reading: “Surprise. We are voting.” They chanted, “We will vote.”
It was a non-partisan rally, organizers explained, designed to fight apathy among young voters in an election where all parties are heavily courting seniors because of their commitment to casting ballots.

Looks like fun.

"We’re calling on students everywhere to celebrate the vote and ask themselves what kind of Canada they want to live in,” co-organizer Gracen Johnson said.

Seriously, this is twenty kinds of awesome. The more visible we are, the less they can ignore us!

Flash Mob at U Guelph!

This is pretty inspiring.



I especially love the line, "Vote for the Canada you want." Too true, too true.

I can only hope that other campuses across the country follow Guelph's lead. Hopefully some of them will use this awesome song as a rallying cry:



Is it just me, or is youth mobilization being led by/crystallizing around Rick Mercer?