Thousands of students along with their moms, dads and grandparents are all voting day.
Voting started early at 9am in this mock election. It will wrap up at 11:30 and after lunch the votes will be counted. Principal Pat Laskey tells me during the 2014 election, their results were very similar to the actual vote. pic.twitter.com/Gotbecz3FM
— Tamara Steele (@tamarasteele1) September 24, 2018
We dropped by the student vote at Bayside Middle School in Saint John.
The polls were only open for two and a half hours but the candidates on the ballot are the same.
Students are voting for candidates running in Saint John East.
Charlie and Abigail are both in Grade 7 and excited to take part in the Student Vote at Bayside Middle School. #studentvote2018 #saintjohn #nb pic.twitter.com/0sDHER4afR
— Tamara Steele (@tamarasteele1) September 24, 2018
Abigail Mitchell is a grade 7 student and tells us why she thinks voting is important.
“I think it is important because say there is this one group you wanted to win and then they lost by one vote and you didn’t vote. You could have been that one deciding factor that put them in.”
Principal Pat Laskey says they did this four years ago during the last provincial election and the result was very similar to the actual vote.
“The kids are aware because they see the signage, they are listening to the ads on tv. Teachers, especially in social studies, are talking about the elections and so they form their opinions of who to vote for.”
Laskey says it’s unfortunate that candidates didn’t come in to speak with the kids because middle school students are young, impressionable and learning about the citizen’s right to vote.
#StudentVoteNB: 20,000+ @studentvote ballots have been cast so far from 165 schools from throughout New Brunswick!
Stay tuned for the full results at the close of polls tonight (8pm): https://t.co/uu2g0JW1xe #nbpoli #nbed #nbvotes2018 #NBVotes @ElectionsNB pic.twitter.com/og39Th6peB— CIVIX (@CIVIX_Canada) September 24, 2018
