This post first appeared on a blog for a MacEwan University class in September 2013.

With a municipal election less than a month away, there is something I dread more than the robo-calls of candidates: the endless lamentations about low voter turnout – specifically, the low voter turnout among youth.

Only 33% of eligible Edmontonians cast a ballot in the last municipal election in 2010. The number sadly reflects the downward trends in voter turnout and is perhaps even more pathetic considering the 53% turnout that Calgary saw that year – up from 32.9% in the 2007 election. Calgary’s 2010 municipal election is largely remembered for being the campaign that social media won, with Naheed Nenshi pulling off a victory that was credited to his campaign’s active social media use and engagement of the youth vote.

This year, as part of a larger campaign by the city’s youth engagement arm NextGen, the City of Edmonton has launched some social media tools aimed at getting younger voters to the election polls. With a dedicated Twitter account for broadcasting election information (@EdmElections) and a swanky new app (available for iPhone, Android and Blackberry), perhaps they are taking a page from Neshi’s playbook.

The @EdmElections account has under 300 followers (at time of writing) made up largely of media. Its efficacy to get more young people to polling stations is, in my mind doubtful. The activity on the hashtag #yegvote is encouraging but doesn’t yet trend in Edmonton frequently. But the app is awesome.

With a countdown to Election Day, candidate information and personalized polling station information based on your address, the app literally has everything you need to find out anything you want about the election in a user-friendly format. Aside from internet voting, which the city turned down earlier this year, it’s difficult to think of how much easier the city could make it for people to get their hands on elections information. (Get it? It’s a smartphone app? It’s literally in the palm of your hand.)

While social media isn’t the only way that the city is trying to make voting more accessible this year (there are 2 extra advanced polls at youth frequented locations like recreation centers), the app is certainly the most exciting.

Municipal elections will occur province-wide on October 21, 2013. What do you think about the city’s attempts to engage the youth vote? If you aren’t from Edmonton, what kind of tactics is your hometown using to try to get you to vote? Don’t know if you’re eligible to vote in Edmonton? Download the app and check!

Update: 

 
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