Byron Ashley did not get to vote in the 2008 Canadian election. Fully entitled and qualified, the Communication junior had just turned 18 and was eager to cast his opinion, but the ballot didn’t arrive until it was too late.
This time around, Ashley wanted to be certain his vote counted. In order to vote by special absentee ballot in today’s Canadian parliamentary election, he began the registration process the second day of Spring Quarter, four days after elections were announced.
“I wanted my vote to be taken into account,” he said.
As Canada prepares for election results Monday night, Ashley said he is certain his vote will be part of the decision because his parents saw his name crossed off at the advance polls last weekend.
“Ultimately, I didn’t do a good job last time,” Ashley said. “It’s definitely a lot of work, but I think it’s worth it because it’s something I actually want to do – it’s important.”
Younger voters tend to be more apathetic to elections and politics in the United States. In 2008, however, there was an uncharacteristic spike in voter turnout, which was widely attributed to President Barack Obama’s efforts to involve young voters. The 2008 presidential election saw a relatively high 18-to-24 age group voter turnout at 49 percent, compared to Canada’s young voter turnout in the 2008 federal election at 37.4 percent. Still, Canada’s young voter turnout has typically been higher than the United States in its respective elections prior to 2008.
Of the 508 international undergraduates at Northwestern, those from democratic countries must choose to vote by absentee ballot, fly home for the election or skip it altogether.
Many international students like Ashley find voting by absentee ballot internationally is often arduous. It involves swimming through paperwork, faxes, stamps and phone calls in order to vote by absentee ballot in their home country.
The Canadian student, for example, downloaded the special ballot form, filled it out and faxed it to Elections Canada, along with a photocopy of his driver’s license. He called to follow up, and was told his photocopy was unclear and he had to resend a copy of the driver’s license. A few calls and a few weeks later, he received the voting package by mail.
The voting package housed the ballot, sheathed in a Russian doll assortment of different-sized envelopes. He wrote the name of his preferred candidate on the ballot, sealed the rim and slipped it into a medium-sized envelope. He signed and dated the latter, sealed it again and stuck it into the final envelope, his vote finally ready to make the trip across the border.
“And I had to pay for my own postage,” Ashley said. “It’s ridiculous.”
Despite the effort, the Toronto-area native said he was determined to vote and make sure his candidate secured the riding.
“At the end of the day I try to separate the voting process with the voting itself,” Ashley said.
Other students prefer to return home and vote in person. Turkish student Ozden Kinik is flying home a few days earlier to vote in the June 12 election.
“I feel like I’m voting because I’m trying to save my country,” Kinik said.
She said there is more pressure in young Turkish culture to vote because of the multiparty system.
“For Americans, whether it’s Democrats or Republicans, it doesn’t change much,” the McCormick freshman said.
Kinik said although she is unclear how absentee ballots work for her situation, she would “go through everything to vote” if there were another election during her time at NU. She said she keeps up with news from her home country because it is easy for her to continue reading newspapers and discuss them with friends, even after moving to Evanston.
But some students, like Ann Lee from South Korea, do not follow Korean news closely enough to make an informed decision.The Weinberg freshman said she does not vote in her native South Korea because she does not visit often enough to get registered.
“I feel a little detached from what’s going on,” said Lee, who attended high school in Singapore.
Dual citizen Alice Chen, who holds both American and Taiwanese passports, has never voted in either country, though she said she will register for the U.S. presidential elections next year.
“I’ve always felt more invested in the politics in America,” the Communication sophomore said.
Chen said the combined factors of not following Taiwanese politics, low faith in the government’s efficiency and the process of registering to vote are enough to deter her from casting a ballot in Taiwanese elections.
“I don’t see the point of voting. It’s kind of a hassle, and I’d have to go out of my way to do it, so I’ve kind of been putting it off,” Chen said.
Depending on the country’s policies, absentee ballots may not be an option. Indian legislature does not allow citizens to vote from abroad, so McCormick freshman Karan Goenka missed an election in his constituency last month.
“It sucks because I feel that every person who has the right to vote should be allowed to vote,” Goenka said. “I just turned 18 last year, so I was really pumped, but since I’m here I couldn’t vote.”
Sometimes voting by absentee ballot isn’t as tedious as Ashley found it to be. Spanish citizen Ignacio Estrada Garcia successfully registered and voted in the upcoming May 22 Madrid election by going to the Spanish consulate in Chicago, changing his address to his NU one and completing the process by mail. The McCormick freshman said the process was worth it.
