One group’s effort to pop (up) the vote

For first-timers, voting can be mysterious, confusing — even scary. That’s why Samara Canada is organizing pop-up polling stations to educate new voters before the election

Dress rehearsals can help alleviate the pressures of a big day. That’s why Samara Canada is setting up mock polling stations across the country so new voters can practice casting a ballot in advance of the Oct. 19 federal election.

The Vote Pop Up project is aimed at “demystifying the voting process for new voters and marginalized Canadians,” says John Beebe, manager of outreach for Samara, a nonpartisan charity dedicated to promoting civic engagement.

“For Canadians who vote all the time, this seems like a very easy civic activity,” says Beebe. “But for people who may be new to or who had uncomfortable connections with ‘officialdoms,’ this is a way of removing the anxiety that might be associated with voting.”

Using the official ballot boxes and voting screens from Elections Canada, the simulated polling stations take wouldbe voters through the steps, offering information about electoral districts, the ID required to vote, different ways to vote and what’s involved in actually casting a ballot.

Samara has enlisted 270 staff and volunteers in Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, and Halifax to hold mock votes in their communities. Current partners include local YMCAs, settlement services for new Canadians, universities and drop-in shelters, but anyone can host the project in their own community by downloading the Vote Pop Up kit from samaracanada.com and following the instructions.

Because the campaign is non-partisan, the ballots don’t contain the names of parties or candidates. Instead, they allow organizers and participants to choose and vote on issues important to their community.

The opportunity to talk about their issues can help new voters connect the political process to the things they care about, Beebe says, as well as helping to deal with what he calls the “emotional barrier” of stress that exists around voting.

Mark Coffin, president of the Springtide Collective civic engagement group in Halifax, which is organizing Vote Pop Ups in that city, remembers being unsure about what kind of mark he had to put in the space next to the candidate’s name when he was casting his ballot. “Little things like that can make a difference between people knowing whether or not their vote counts, and that might be different for everyone.”

“A lot of my friends just turned 18 or 19, and there hasn’t been a chance for them to vote yet. They thought it would be a lengthier process, “says Carole Suarez, a University of Toronto mechanical engineering student who’s helping organize Vote Pop Ups on campus. The most common question she hears from participants is simply about where they can vote.

Sharing information with new voters via personal interaction is the best way to get them to care, Suarez says. “When organizations put up posters, we look at them and they are dismissed all the time, especially when it comes to things like politics and democracy.”

Some community groups have already expressed their plans to use Vote Pop Ups beyond the election. Says Beebe, “This is a constant, heart-beating part of our democracy. It’s something we should always be doing, having a chance to have our voices heard about what is important to us.”