Conservatives fail in bid to quash student votes

The Toronto Star:

Thornhill — All party leaders are urging voters — especially young voters — to turn out in droves to cast a ballot on May 2.

But only one party appears to have an interest in driving down the participation of 18-to-24-year-olds in this campaign, says an expert on youth voting patterns. And now the Conservative Party is facing an allegation of election tampering after trying to have 700 votes cast by students earlier this week at the University of Guelph declared null and void.

Elections Canada said in a statement that the on-campus polling station, where normally strict voting rules are more relaxed, was the work of a “well-intentioned returning officer” who organized a sanctioned but not pre-authorized vote.

They won’t be holding anymore advanced balloting at the university in the future, but all of the votes cast will be considered valid.

In a riding where the Tories lost to the Liberals by just 1,792 votes in the 2008 election, those 700 votes matter. In the dozens of other ridings across the country where the vote count will be equally tight, experts say the Tory campaign is trying to drive down the participation of those who can be expected to vote for other parties.

The NDP is a traditional favourite of young voters, while the Liberals are specifically targeting youth with a post-secondary education subsidy they’ve made a centrepiece of their platform.

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