uwstudent.org

The Record ran a story today about low student turnout in municipal elections. The story includes quotes from Mayor Herb Epp, Cord Editor-in-chief April Robinson, Feds President Michelle Zakrison, WLU student Griffin Carpenter, and political science professor Robert Williams.

Students not interested in municipal vote
Brian Whitwham
24 Oct 2006

Voter turnout for municipal elections is low in general, but the turnout by students is abysmal.

In the last election three years ago, 2,428 registered voters lived on campus at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, but only 219 voted.

Still, this was far more than the 57 students who voted in the 2000 municipal election.

While no one knows what the turnout is for the thousands of students living off-campus, many believe it's low, especially in the cities where students attend school.

[...]

Michelle Zakrison, 24, president of UW's Federation of Students, is planning a mayoral and candidates' debate. But she said getting the message out and getting students interested is always a struggle.

"It's hard to get students excited about bylaws," she said. "I think some students believe the municipal election would be irrelevant to their issues."

She said most students don't own property, which insulates them somewhat from policies on property taxes and garbage collection.

"There is also that apathy and that feeling that 'I'm only here four years so why should I vote?' "