U of W students stage mob action to rouse young voters

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/04/2011 (5581 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SCREAMING with electoral glee, 100 or so university students charged down the escalators inside the University of Winnipeg on Wednesday in a spontaneous mob action to encourage young people to vote in Monday’s federal election.

Then they went back up the escalators and came charging back down a second time with even more enthusiasm and spontaneity.

A few minutes later, they all trundled over to Wesley Hall, only to burst forth out of the main doors moments later in a gush of spontaneous enthusiasm.

It’s called a vote mob, and organizers acknowledged the main purpose of Wednesday’s demonstration was to provide footage for a YouTube video aimed at reaching eligible young voters through social media.

U of W Students Association president Lauren Bosc prepped the vote mobsters, positioning them in packs atop escalator landings and around the corner on either side of the ‘down’ escalator.

“You’re almost going to be hiding, and then storming out,” Bosc advised. “You’re swarming and mobbing. Like, run down the escalators — don’t hurt yourself.”

Students waved handwritten signs proclaiming “I have a voice,” “I’m 18 and I’m informed,” “world peace,” “I am an immigrant,” and “indigenous people’s rights.”

While the event was non-partisan, a handful of politicians and would-be pols showed up to represent the establishment, including MLA Rob Altemeyer (NDP-Wolseley), provincial Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard, and Winnipeg South Liberal candidate Terry Duguid.

“Gotta love Facebook,” said Altemeyer, his ponytail swinging as he followed the student mob.

U of W student James Janzen told Duguid the students don’t want the parties setting an agenda for the students: “We’re saying what we want,” he declared.

Fellow student organizer Brittany Thiessen said 500 people had indicated on facebook that they would attend, though the crowd appeared considerably smaller. “We hope to encourage and motivate youth to vote,” Thiessen said.

Students promoted the vote mob through Twitter and a variety of sites on Facebook, including the UWSA site and the university’s site.

“It’s been extremely effective,” Thiessen said.

Emerging from Wesley Hall and setting up for the cameras, Bosc chanted: “Tell me what democracy looks like,” to which the hordes replied: “This is what democracy looks like!”

Whereupon they trotted over to the quad and a waiting DJ, to do it all over again for the YouTube crowd.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Eager to cast a ballot

MANITOBA had an amazing 54.4 per cent increase in advance voting last Friday, Saturday and Monday over the advance vote for the 2008 federal election.

Nationally, the advance vote increased 34.5 per cent this year.

Below is the advance vote turnout in each of the Manitoba ridings, followed by the percentage of eligible voters in each riding who voted early:

Brandon-Souris 2,713 4.5

Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia 4,646 7.5

Churchill 1,800 4.1

Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette 2,803 5.3

Elmwood-Transcona 4,068 7.0

Kildonan-St. Paul 4,731 7.5

Portage-Lisgar 2,871 4.9 Provencher 3,148 5.1

Saint Boniface 5,749 8.9

Selkirk-Interlake 4,493 7.0

Winnipeg Centre 1,879 3.5

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

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Winnipeg North 3,527 6.9

Winnipeg South 7,307 11.7

Winnipeg South Centre 6,136 10.9

— based on data compiled by Elections Canada

Nick Martin

Former Free Press reporter Nick Martin, who wrote the monthly suspense column in the books section and was prolific in his standalone reviews of mystery/thriller novels, died Oct. 15 at age 77 while on holiday in Edinburgh, Scotland.