General voting day in the 2025 federal election is Monday, April 28.
That same day, students across Canada under the age of 18 will get a taste of the polling process thanks to the Student Vote Canada program.
The initiative has been operated by CIVIX Canada for over two decades.
Chief program officer Dan Allan says the mock vote in schools across the nation aims to encourage younger people to vote when they are legally able to do so.
“One of the main hurdles why young adults don’t vote when they first turn 18 is that they really don’t know the basics of how the process to cast your vote works,” Allan says.
“Giving students a chance to kind of practice those steps now while they’re in school kind of takes away the ‘not knowing how those things work’ when they are of age.”
The last time the program operated in Alberta was for the 2023 provincial election.
“In Alberta in 2023, the provincial campaign, we had about 1,300 schools participating throughout Alberta,” Allan notes.
He adds that so far, there are 1,345 schools registered to participate this year.
As of Wednesday, April 23, the following 29 Lethbridge-area schools are set to take part:
- G.S. Lakie Middle School
- Coalbanks Elementary School
- Fleetwood-Bawden School
- St. Francis Junior High School
- The Children of St. Martha Elementary School
- Ecole La Verendrye
- Victoria Park High School
- Nicholas Sheran Community School
- Park Meadows Elementary
- Winston Churchill High School
- Mike Mountain Horse Elementary
- Lethbridge Christian School
- Immanuel Christian Elementary School
- Ecole St. Mary School
- Ecole Agnes Davidson Elementary
- St. Patrick Fine Arts Elementary School
- Lakeview Elementary
- Heritage Collegiate
- Lethbridge Collegiate Institute
- Chinook High School
- Chin Lakes Colony School
- Wilson Middle School
- Senator Joyce Fairbairn Middle School
- Immanuel Christian High School
- Gilbert Paterson Middle School
- Dr. Gerald B. Probe Elementary School
- Father Leonard Van Tighem School
- Our Lady of the Assumption School
- St. Paul School
Schools can register at the Student Vote Canada website.
Registered schools will get a voting day package that includes items like a manual, ballot boxes and privacy screens. Over 7,000 schools across Canada are set to participate.
Results from the Student Vote will be released after polls close on general election day.
READ MORE: Need to know before you vote: 2025 federal election
More federal election coverage is available here.
