By Bill Atwood

Times-Chronicle

Just days before the provincial election, students at Osoyoos Secondary School engaged in the election process in their own way, participating in  a mock vote to pick the candidate of their choice.

Student Levi Escobar said the vote is helping him and his classmates be more aware of democracy in action.

“I really liked the process, and how it is kind of spreading consciousness among the students, that in a democratic society, you should vote.”

Escobar said the project shows how easy it should be to vote. “It’s not that hard either, you know, go in, you put the X on a circle, and you put in your ballot.”

English and social studies teacher Amanda Girgan, who oversaw the vote, said she tried to keep the students informed of the issues going into the exercise.

“Now, I only stuck to the main, like central candidates in the sense of I’m not comfortable speaking about a platform I’m not aware of. So, for instance, as a social studies teacher, I have a pretty good idea of the ideologies of NDP, Liberals, Conservatives. But I’m not too sure about the ideologies around like, a Wexit party,” she said.

Girgan explained that she focused on the candidates for Boundary-Similkameen, instead of the candidates running for premier.

“I think politics starts at home. So, it’s best to look at actually the people you’ll actually be voting for,” explained Girgan.

She also encouraged the students to look into lesser-known parties, including Wexit.

The vote was completely run by the students, with four students acting as poll workers to facilitate the voting process.

“It’s giving them the opportunity to know what it’d be like when they maybe take on these positions later in life. These are great jobs when voting happens where students get involved,” said Girgan.

“But it’s also really great for the resume to say ‘I volunteered for the student vote process’, because it’s a very well recognized program. So those are all things that kind of get them involved on a deeper level,” she said.

Escobar agreed and said that he thinks the mock vote will help students become more politically involved later in life.

“I think it’ll encourage students to be more participatory within politics, even outside of elections, like joining a political party and taking a firsthand role in the political process.”

Photo by Bill Atwood)