Our Government Our Election

Objective
Students will learn that voting is a democratic right and considers if it is a democratic responsibility.

Procedure
1. As a class, brainstorm reasons why is it important to vote.

2. Bridge class discussion into reading of Considering Voter Turnout.
KEY QUESTIONS

• What difficulties would students or homeless people face in having the proper identification for voting? How could this be remedied?
• Is mandatory voting a good idea? Why or why not?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of using paper ballots? What about online voting?

3. introduce how to participate in the voting process without casting a ballot for a candidate, read Declined Ballots. Reviewing Lesson 2.6: Citizen Participation may be useful for Question 1 of this handout.

4. For consideration about building voter turnout, read Lower the Voting Age?

5. To understand ways that COVID-19 has impacted the provincial election, assign COVID-19 and Voting.

FURTHER EXPLORATIONS
6. For an exploration of how Indigenous people gained the right to vote in federal elections, and the resistance many Indigenous people had to being granted this right, check out the case study Indigenous People and the Right to Vote in Lesson One of Democracy and the Rule of Law.

7. The CBC Archives has an examination of voting history in Canada, Voting in Canada: How a Privilege Became a Right.

8. Elections Canada has a useful comprehensive guide to A History of the Vote in Canada.