SU downsizes Get Out The Vote campaign

By Hayden McBennett, January 29 2015 —

This year, the Students’ Union will spend $10,000 on their Get Out The Vote campaign, $11,000 less than what they spent in 2012.

Get Out The Vote is a campaign that offers students incentives like iPads and Macbooks in exchange for their personal information. Students are then reminded how to vote on election day.   

The SU will spend just under $10,000, with $3,436 going to general prizes, $3,000 in coupons for MacHall vendors and $1,250 for club incentives.

The SU will begin a “soft launch” phase between Feb. 2–13 before a “hard launch” leading up to the expected provincial election from March 9–April 14. The campaign will conclude during O-Week next fall with a final push for the federal election.

SU vice-president external Levi Nilson helped outline the campaign’s 2015 budget.

“We over shot it last [time]. We gave out prizes and we had way too many,” Nilson said. 

Nilson hopes the campaign will show the government that students are a group worth listening to.

“We haven’t really seen the government make good choices in regards to post-secondary and with good indications, they’re not going to make good choices in the very near future. It’s basically showing them that we do vote,” Nilson said. 

Only 38.8 per cent of people 18-24 voted in the last provincial election. 

The SU receives a list of the students who vote. Get Out The Vote hopes to encourage 7,500 students to vote this year.