200,000 future voters participating in the Alberta provincial election

Across the province, thousands of educators are using the Student Vote Alberta program to bring democracy to life in the classroom.

Student Vote is an experiential civic literacy program that provides students under the voting age with the opportunity to practice the habits of active and informed citizenship, and cast ballots for the official candidates in a parallel election.

Participating schools received a variety of non-partisan educational materials to teach about government and the election process, and encourage research and discussion about the issues and candidates. Ballots, ballot boxes and voting screens were also provided for the coordination of Student Vote Day.

More than 1,300 schools are registered to participate in Student Vote Alberta, representing all 87 electoral divisions in the province. As many as 200,000 elementary and secondary students are expected to cast Student Vote ballots in the lead up to and on May 29.

“The need to impart civic literacy and foster democratic participation has only grown more urgent in recent years,” said Lindsay Mazzucco, CEO of CIVIX. “We are grateful for the teachers that are leading this program in their schools and for support received from Elections Alberta, the Alberta Teachers Association, the Government of Canada, and our other partners for making this project possible.”

The Student Vote Alberta results will be tabulated and released publicly following the end of voting on Election Day. The results will include the seat count and popular vote for each party, results by electoral division and individual school tallies.

To receive information about the participating schools in your area, or to speak to student participants about their experience, please contact:

For English inquiries, Dan Allan at dan@civix.ca

For French inquiries, Dana Cotnareanu at dana@civix.quebec

BACKGROUND:

Student Vote is a program of CIVIX, a non-partisan registered Canadian charity dedicated to strengthening democracy through civic education. CIVIX programming focuses on elections, government budgets, elected representatives and digital media literacy.

Student Vote Alberta 2023 is made possible by Elections Alberta, the Alberta Teachers’ Association and the Government of Canada.