University students across the country are using impromptu "vote mobs" to encourage more young voters to cast a ballot in the federal election.
Only 37 per cent of eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 24 cast a ballot in the 2008 election, well below the overall average of 58.8 per cent. In the hopes of improving on that dismal number, students are holding so-called "vote mobs" on campuses from coast to coast.
One of the organizers, Yvonne Su, described a vote mob as "a creative platform for young people, or just for people in general, to get a message across."
Videos of the mob are uploaded to social networking websites like Facebook and YouTube. The videos are usually set to music, and show crowds of students walking or running through campus, interspersed with messages encouraging young people to vote. Some have been viewed more than 20,000 times.
The idea evolved from flash mobs, in which groups use social media to plan large public gatherings, often with choreographed dancing.
Similarly, those who participate in vote mobs "can dance, they can sing -- it is whatever they want to do, really," Su told CTV News Channel on Friday.
"It's really the energy that we want to capture, the energy and the passion that people have for voting and for our democracy. You can see that so many people are proud to be Canadian," Su said.
The idea is to turn voting into a social event, something that young Canadians talk about with their peers, she said.
During a vote mob at the University of Guelph that Su attended earlier this month, she said many people in the crowd painted their faces with the word "vote" or carried signs.
Organizers of the event claim it helped to boost turnout at a special ballot held at the university on Wednesday, which saw around 700 students cast votes. The poll was supposed to close at 3 p.m. but stayed open until 7:30 p.m. due to high demand. When Su cast her ballot the wait time was 45 minutes, she said.
The special ballot attracted national attention after the federal Conservatives complained of "irregularities" with the poll and tried to have the votes nullified.
In response, Elections Canada issued a statement saying that the special ballot was not pre-authorized before the election campaign, as required. Nevertheless, the votes were "cast in a manner that respects the Canada Elections Act."
Su said she knows of 35 more vote mobs scheduled to take place on campuses across the country "in the near future."
"That's a lot of support," she said. "It's definitely becoming a hot topic."
According to leadnow.ca, a youth advocacy group, vote mobs have been planned on 21 Canadian campuses from Victoria to St. John's during the election campaign.
