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Province approves student I.D.s

By Ryan Rogers
News Editor
August 8, 2007

Registering to vote has dogged students during federal and provincial elections for years, but new improvements by Elections Ontario are going to make registration easier. When students move away from home and into residence at university, they often have difficulty providing government documentation showing their new permanent address. Now post-secondary documents can be used to prove your place of residence.

A press release from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) said, “During the 2003 Ontario election, many students could not access the voting process because of confusion over interpretation of the Elections Act. The most significant problem for students was providing proof of permanent residency and identification that would satisfy election officials. Since then, the Canadian Federation of Students has been meeting with Elections Ontario to improve student and youth voter turnout by making the voting process more clear and accessible.”

Jen Hassum, Chairperson at CFS, says that there are three types of documents that can be used. “You can either get put down on the voting list by something on List A, or a combination of List B and C. List A is [a document with] your name, address and signature.” This could include loan agreements or OSAP agreements.

Items on the B and C Lists would be items that have only one or two of the three essential identifying items, which are your name, address and signature. “A card issued by the administration of a post-secondary institution with your name and signature, which could be a student card, a library card, an athletic card, anything that’s issued by the university, are all examples,” continued Hassum.

“Many students change their permanent address every year and that makes providing official documents a challenge,” she said. “We are pleased with the improvements to the voter identification requirements because they mean that there are now fewer obstacles between students and the ballot box.”

The next provincial election is slated for Oct. 10, 2007. In preparation, the CFS is launching a province-wide awareness campaign. The campaign will be directed at students and the general public and will include information on voter registration, post-secondary education issues, and political party platforms.

Jesse Greener, Campaigns and Government Relations Coordinator for CFS said, “[The campaign] will make sure that students are as well armed with information on the issues that are important to students, including tuition fees and accessibility.” He continued, “The good thing is that the Ontario election and referendum that’s running in conjunction will be happening while students are in school and right after orientation weeks across the province. Students are going to be using that opportunity to get information into the hands of students and raising awareness on the issues that are important to [them].”

He plans to have flyers, buttons, stickers and informational pamphlets available for distribution during orientation week across Ontario.

More information on the campaign can be found at www.voteeducation.ca.