ssues & ideas

EDITOR BAILEY NICHOLSON

THE VOICE, THURSDAY, OCT. 8 , 2015 7

Different votes for different folks

Students voting in the federal election have many choices and sources at their disposal

ROSEMARY NEWTON photo illustration

Langara students look to online versions of newspapers among a variety of outlets for political news and information

Students stray from tradition when
seeking politcal news and information

Many of Langara’s young voters have a broader spectrum of sources
than their parents when it comes to trusted election coverage

Langara political
science instructor

66

[The news]
may be selec-
tive in terms
of which ele-
ments ... they
cover

By ROSEMARY NEWTON

tudents at Langara College are
reaching for a wider variety of
political news sources than the
generation of voters before
them.
Top picks for information on the
Oct. 19 federal election among Langara
students included digital editions of
CBC, the Globe and Mail, and the Van-
couver Sun, along with 24 Hours, Met-
ro, Vancity Buzz, Huffington Post and
Facebook. Those more skeptical of bias
looked to Reddit and sites 350.org,
leadnow.ca and the satirical Syrup
Trap.
General arts student Ben Ander-
son said his parents’ choices are much
more traditional.

“They definitely don’t use Face-
book,” he said, and listed their go-to
sources. “Print, newspaper articles,
magazine journals, CBC, and they
would definitely tune in to watch the
debates.”

TV broadcasts have high reach, but
low viewership among young Canadi-
ans, according to Stephen Phillips, po-
litical science instructor at Langara.
He suggests voters pay attention to
party websites in addition to their
news outlet of choice.

“The news will provide a summary
of party positions but may be selective
in terms of which elements of the par-
ty’s platform they cover,” Phillips said.

General arts student Reece Howey
agrees that news has the ability to im-
pact voter behaviour. “Very few people

have time or resources to actually first
hand investigate,” he said. Howey said
he chooses Facebook for more diverse
political viewpoints.

Rukie Karov, Langara general arts
student, turns to Tumblr for her elec-
tion coverage. “They have a cool com-
position of the 2015 federal elections
with really well sourced information,”
she said.

Regardless of preferred news
source, voters should seek background
information to better understand what
they’re reading, according to Peter
Prontzoz, Langara political science in-
structor.

“The more they can be informed
about the system, the more they can be
informed about patterns and can see
why people are saying certain things.”

Putting your
best vote
forward

Strategic voting may make
young voters feel like their
input makes a difference

By KATE RICHARDSON

tween the “lesser of two evils” to
make their vote count on Oct.19,
according to Stephen Phillips, political
science instructor at Langara College.
He is referring to the concept of
strategic voting, which encourages
people to vote collectively for one party
instead of by personal preference, sole-
ly to prevent a particular party from
winning.

“Voters looking to cast that one vote
will ask themselves whether they want
to vote for their preferred choice or
whether they want to have some influ-
ence on the outcome,” Phillips said.

According to Karl Hardin, digital
strategist at Dogwood Initiative, strate-
gic voting is easier than ever.

“The Internet and the creation of
large e-mail lists has made information
that would allow for strategic voting
much more accessible than previous
elections,” he said.

Though there is a wealth of informa-
tion to help people vote strategically,
Hardin said it is important to refer to
the most current data. He points to ad-
vocacy organization LeadNow and
their website votetogether.ca which of-
fers riding level polling and local candi-
date input. Phillips agreed, noting that
previous election data “may not be a
reliable guide to the state of the parties
in the same riding this time around.”

Andrea Moerman, a Langara con-
tinuing education student, said she
would rather vote according to her val-
ues; however, “in a riding where it
could go either way, I might vote strate-
gically.”

Others find the idea problematic. “I
feel like it’s dishonourable. Maybe
that’s how the system works and you
have to play along with it but I am di-
vided,” said Langara student Brian
Thomson.

Riley Tylla, a Langara continuing
education student, said she has no such
qualms, feeling there is little choice. “If
whoever you are voting for gets in, and
they are not the majority government
your vote means so little.”

When asked if she would vote strate-
gically, Tylla was emphatic. “If I could
vote for a specific party who would get
the Conservative out? Hell yeah, times
twelve.”

Yr may be forced to choose be-

Mandatory voting

Philosophers’ Jam on Oct. 8.
Murray Mollard, host of the event
and executive director of the North

to PBS NewsHour.
One of those countries is Brazil,
where Langara marketing manage-

up for debate at
Langara

Upcoming Philosophers’
Jam will weigh the pros
and cons of mandatory
voting in Canada

By MARK STUART

andatory voting will be ex-
Mp as a solution to voter

apathy at a Langara College

Shore Community Resources Society,
acknowledged the lack of young Cana-
dians voting, and said he plans to dis-
cuss and encourage debate among stu-
dents about whether making voting
mandatory is the best resolution.

“Many young people don’t vote,”
said Mollard. “That has an outcome on
elections, and who gets elected. For the
younger age demographic it’s an im-
portant issue in terms of their ability to
influence policy and law.”

There are currently 22 countries
in the world where mandatory voting
is law, with an estimated 744 million
people worldwide living in nations
with mandated voting laws, according

ment student Jessica Rebonatto is cy.

learn by engaging in conversation,” he

”

from. “?’m actually for it,” she said.” I
think it would increase voter turnout,
for sure.”

However, student’s sentiments on
the subject aren’t all the same. Diego
Rondon, also a Langara marketing
management student and native of
Brazil, said he feels differently. “I per-
sonally don’t like it,” he said, “because
when its mandatory, people don’t think
before voting - they have to vote, they
must vote - so they go there and just
vote for any person.”

Mollard said he plans to run his pre-
sentation in an interactive fashion.
“You learn by listening, but you also

said. “I’m interested to see if whether
dialogue is a good basis for democra-

ELECTIONS CANADA submitted photo