As a community-based organization, we embrace collaborations with other organizations that support community growth and engagement. This year we’ve collaborated with Democratic Engagement Exchange (DEE), a program run out of Ryerson University Faculty of Arts, to tackle the 2019 federal election on October 21.
Why focus so heavily on the election? Well, according to DEE, there were 9 million eligible voters who didn’t vote in the last federal election. Since the last federal election, over 750,000 people became newly eligible to vote. Can you imagine the impact of all those people?
But we get it, voting can be a daunting process, so we spoke to Elaine Balogun, field organizer for DEE, to talk about the election, our collaboration, and Vote PopUps.
We’re hosting a Vote PopUp on Thursday, October 10th, from 12-2pm, at Mount Royal University at the East Gate:
Can you explain a bit about what the Democratic Engagement Exchange is for those who aren’t familiar with it?
Our mission is to build a vibrant and inclusive democracy and for everyone living in Canada contributing to building a healthy community.
What we know is that everyone has a voice. And we want those voices to be heard. And when those voices are heard, and when they’re counted, our communities are resilient, they’re stronger, and democracies are stronger. Voting gives us the power to create the future that we want overall.
So that’s really what our mission is. We have the tools that we’ve created, to allow communities to have the ability to go out and do that. This year, we started the Canadian vote coalition. And it’s this campaign to empower local organizations to promote democratic engagement in their communities.
How can people get involved?
There are two ways that people can get involved. The first way is to just join the Canadian vote coalition, as we’re seeing across the country have been involved. We’re currently 700 plus strong, which is very exciting. And then we’ve been getting people to run Vote PopUps.
The second way, we created this really beautiful federal e
lection handbook, which is a nonpartisan guide that equips first-time voters and frequent voters with the knowledge that they need to make confident and informed decisions about the federal election and to feel more comfortable when they head to the polls.
And so it’s kind of this workbook style handbook. It’s engaging, it’s easy to read, it also comes in a variety of languages, which is nice. And there are 50,000 copies that we printed, you know, sharing them with different communities so that they feel equipped.
And what is a Vote PopUp?
So Vote PopUps are this really fun program, that was proven to help demystify the voting process. A lot of times, especially for first-time voters and people who don’t go out to vote a lot, there’s a lot of barriers that they encounter– maybe it’s the lack of knowledge or distrust of politicians or the political system, or just not being familiar with the voting process itself.
So with a vote pop up is it’s this tool that walks people through the polling process and helps them understand everything that it entails. They’re free tool kits that include a ballot box voting screens, and different guides that community leaders can use to teach people how to do it and get people talking about the issues that matter to them.
Can you tell me a bit about the collaboration with ActionDignity?
It’s been a really exciting collaboration that we’ve done, ActionDignity has been a champion of this, throughout all this time that we’ve been running Vote PopUps.
It’s important to collaborate with them, because of course, you know, the lovely people that work at ActionDignity have the experience and the relationship with the communities that we’re trying to reach. And so through them, and really with them, I’ve been trying to get the word out trying to get as many people engaged and having those conversations about democracy and about issues that matter to them.
How can young people get involved?
There’s a variety of different ways that young people can get involved, there’s a variety of ways that people have already got involved. I think one of the first ways is to run a vote pop up in your community or your school.
We’re 17 days from the election and we’re certainly always looking for people to come and volunteer and get the word out. Other ways are to talk to your friends and having those conversations.
Lastly, why is it important that people go out and vote?
I think this goes back to what I was saying earlier and really what the Democratic Engagement Exchange is all about it, it really goes back to power and then using your voice. I think it can be really easy to be frustrated and to feel hopeless, especially at a time such as this one. But your voice does matter and politicians do pay attention to what people are saying, and they do pay attention to how people are voting. So I think it all goes back to utilizing your voice and voting is just one way of being engaged.
For more information on Vote PopUps or how to get involved you can visit https://www.engagedemocracy.ca/vote-popup