Get Out The Vote 2015 (GOTV) was a non-partisan, nationwide campaign led by the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) with the purpose of encouraging young Canadians to vote in the upcoming election. The thinking was: If we don’t speak up, how can we expect to be heard?
CASA believes that students should and can have a say in how politics unfold in Canada. To reverse the growing trend of political apathy, student leaders from across the country set out to educate young Canadians on the importance of voting and encourage them to make it to the polls. From the launch of the campaign on September 1, 2015 until right before the election, over 42,000 students across the country pledged to vote through GOTV.
Young Canadians got out the vote on October 19th and had a major impact on the 2015 federal election. According to Statistics Canada, voter turnout among Canadians aged 18 to 24 increased by 12 percentage points when compared to the previous federal election! CASA also commissioned a study by Abacus Data, which revealed that young Canadians voted in greater numbers than in the past and played an integral role in electing the current federal government. This showed the country that students and young Canadians are no longer politically disengaged, but rather that they care about the future of the country and want to take part in shaping it!
To see the campaign in action, check out Rick Mercer’s coverage of GOTV at St. Francis Xavier University: