Even if the general voting public didn’t turn out in droves, the students did.
Almost 100,000 students from 690 schools cast a ballot in a mock election for the official candidates, in their respective riding, on Monday, as part of Student Vote BC.
“Our students at Glenmerry School once again followed the trend and elected BC NDP incumbent Katrine Conroy,” said Patrick Audet, principal.
“We had about 180 kids vote.
“And the NDP (Conroy) won quite substantially,” he said.
And, as in 2005 and 2009, the students in British Columbia selected an NDP Majority government.
Across B.C., Student Vote reigned in 54 seats for the NDP, Liberals 20, Green Party at eight, and Independents, four.
The BC Conservatives received no seats in the Student Vote.
In all, the NDP received 38.5 per cent of the vote, Liberals 28.1 per cent, Green Party, 17.3, Conservatives 8.6, and Others 3.7 per cent.
In the Kootenay West District, both elementary and high school grades participated, including students from J.L. Crowe Secondary, and elementary schools in Rossland, Fruitvale, Salmo and Glenmerry.
Throughout the year, Social Studies teachers have been discussing the electoral process in class.
A voting “compass” document was used in some lessons, to guide, or point the students to which political party best reflected the student’s values after a series of questions were presented and answered in class.
In-class learning was combined with family dialogue and media literacy to culminate in an authentic in-school vote.