Young people in Canada tend to be apathetic about getting out to vote, so Matthew Heuman, a 31-year-old journalism student at Montreal’s Concordia University, and some colleagues decided to try to do something about it.
They created a new voting application for smart phones and tablets and uses GPS technology and gives students everything they need at election time.
Those using the Vote Note app (www.votenote.ca) will be able to register with Elections Canada, confirm the ID requirements, find their district and which candidates are running and finally get directions to their polling location.
For good measure, it has a clock that counts down to election day, which is expected to be Oct. 19, though Prime Minister Stephen Harper has yet to officially announce it.
It is completely free and will be available on Apple and Android devices.
Heuman, who plans to have it up and running in two weeks, says much of the voter apathy he has witnessed is because too many young people are overwhelmed by the election process.
Whatever the causes, only 38.8 per cent of people from 18 to 24 voted in the 2011 general election.
Turnout in 2011 increased with age–to 75.1 per cent for ages 65-74 and then declined to 60.3 per cent for those 75 and older.
Overall turnout was 61.1 per cent, 2.3 percentage points higher than the all-time low of 58.8 per cent in 2008.
Elections Canada says the participation in 2011 was comparable to the turnout seen in other elections since 2000, but much lower than participation prior to 1993, when turnout typically varied between 70 per cent and 80 per cent.
Heuman has been overwhelmed with work creating the app and is working four jobs to finance it.
He spoke to RCI by phone from Vancouver, where he is visiting family.
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