For the first time ever, Elections Canada has opened up satellite offices at university campuses across the country that will allow students to not only conveniently vote, but to be able to vote for candidates running in their home town riding.
"It's easy. You can go grab a coffee in the middle of class and come and vote. You don't have to go out of your way," says student Jacob Groysman.
Easy is exactly what Elections Canada is aiming for when it comes to the student vote.
"Let's say they are from Vancouver. They can go in, they can vote by what we call a national ballot and they can vote for the person in Vancouver. These ballots are all sent to Ottawa and they are counted in Ottawa and they are added into the counts across the country," says Douglas Glover of Elections Canada.
Glover says early numbers suggest that over 80 per cent of student votes are usually for candiates in their home town ridings.
"This is great because the elections aren't going to be happening when I am home. So the fact I can vote in the riding back home matters because I will be going back there after the school year," says student Alisha Narula.
Students have always been able to cast a ballot in their home ridings.
However, before they would either have to drive to their hometown or request a mail-in ballot from Elections Canada, and neither option is convenient.
There are close to three million Canadians under the age of 24 that are eligible to vote in the upcoming federal election.
However, Statistics Canada says in 2011 only 39 per cent came out to vote, so Elections Canada is hoping these satellite offices help boost those numbers.
"We will be monitoring this. We are asking all the students that vote to fill out an exit survey and asking staff at these locations to fill out surveys so we can determine what worked and what didn't for the next time," says Glover.
Seventy satellite Election Canada offices on various university campuses are open now until Thursday.
There are two polling stations at Western University.
