Alliance: Many in local schools not considered city residents
) " border="0">Dalhousie University Student Union vice-president Mark Coffin says that legislation that will prevent thousands of university students in Halifax from voting in the municipal election is ‘out of step.’ (Tim Krochak / Staff) |  |
Thousands of university students in Halifax won’t be permitted to mark an X for a city hall candidate.
Provincial legislation prevents many of them from voting in the Oct. 18 Halifax municipal election and that’s unfair, says the chairman of the Halifax Student Alliance.
"It’s out of step," Mark Coffin said in an interview Thursday.
Students with a family home elsewhere in the province are allowed to cast a ballot but only in the district where their family lives.
"So students who live in a different part of the province will not be permitted to vote in Halifax, the place where they spend the majority of their year," Mr. Coffin said.
Out-of-province students who have lived in the city since July 18 — three months prior to the election — can vote.
But Mr. Coffin said many students go away for the summer to work, so they’re likely out of luck.
Students who come to Halifax for university have strong feelings about the city, he said.
"A lot of them would like to stay here but many of them don’t because there aren’t as many opportunities here as elsewhere. But maybe by giving them the vote, they would be able to shape the direction of Halifax and possibly create more opportunities for themselves when they’re done school and looking for employment."
The chairman of the coalition, which represents the interests of more than 20,000 university and college students, would like to see the eligibility for municipal election voting fall more in line with federal rules.
"In a federal election, you can choose to vote for a candidate in your home riding or your school area," he said.
And while most students will likely get to vote in a federal election, rumoured to be called for Oct. 14, he said municipal politics often have a greater impact on people.
"There’s a lot more potential for change in what students see locally." It’s also a landmark election year, he said, because it coincides with the 250th anniversary of democracy in Canada, a movement that started in Nova Scotia.
"We’ve just gone through a whole series of events and campaigns put on by the provincial government that said it’s important for youth to vote."
Mr. Coffin’s alliance has written to Municipal Relations Minister Jamie Muir requesting a change in the legislation. But a department spokesman said it’s unlikely anything could happen this fall.
Any change would have to go to the legislature for consideration, communications director Donna Chislett said Thursday.
"At this point in time, with the House not in session and with no consultation having been undertaken, it would not be a change that would be possible before the upcoming municipal election," she said Thursday.
She stressed students aren’t being excluded — they just have to vote in their hometown.
If nothing can be accomplished before Oct. 18, Mr. Coffin said, the alliance will focus on getting things changed for the next election in 2012.
"We’d love to have it changed now so that we can have a ‘Get out to vote’ campaign and actually encourage our students to vote."
The sheer number of university students in Halifax — Dalhousie alone has 15,000 — could make them a force to be reckoned with, he said.
"In elections, there are usually one to three thousand people who turn out to vote, so students are potentially the swing vote. So it’s definitely important for the students and for the candidates running."
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