Civic election: Students use Instagram to get out the youth vote

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A group of King’s University College students is bringing London’s civic election to a new audience with bite-size explainers on Instagram.

London Votes, or @LdnVotes, is an effort to engage voters, especially a younger generation that may not be paying attention to local politics.

Matthew Plaskett, a fourth-year student in the social justice and peace program at King’s, teamed up with three of his peers — Molly Brennan-Purtill, Barbara Christensen and Victoria Carpenter — to create the London Votes account and blog.

“We were all having a conversation, I think after the Ontario election, about how low the voter turnout was, especially among people our age, the university age group,” Plaskett said.

“We’re very passionate about certain social issues, but then when it comes time to vote on those issues, people don’t really show up,” he said. “I use social media all the time, so I thought maybe that could be a good avenue (to drive change).”

Municipal elections are known for low voter turnout. In London, it hovers around 40 per cent.

When the group realized it would be “daunting” to track down more than 70 candidates for city council, they linked up with a political science class at King’s to reach out to those on the campaign trail.

Answers to a set of questions focusing on the candidate’s story, as well as pressing issues such as housing, public transit, climate action and racism are sent by the political science students back to the London Votes team to turn into Instagram posts.

“Our goal was just to teach people more information about the candidates. We tried to think of questions that would inspire some connection,” Plaskett said.

Roughly half the city council candidates have responded.

Other groups in London are using a similar approach, polling candidates with their own batch of big questions, in order to share information with voters.

Thriving London, which describes itself as a group working for a “thriving and inclusive London that is known as one of the greenest and most resilient cities in Canada,” is another example. It used a series of statements and asked candidates to share whether they agree or disagree on prioritizing rapid transit, food security and cycling lanes, among other topics.

London Votes and Thriving London have also shared basic information about municipal government and how it works.

The response from friends, students and local community leaders has been positive, Plaskett said, adding he’s already heard their efforts are having an impact.

“A number of our peers . . . told me it’s taught them more about local politics.”

mstacey@postmedia.com