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Political Science students Aidan Gough, Lisa Kim and Alexander Hodaly recently won the Civic Space, Education and Rights Award at the �鶹��ƵDemshot Challenge for their project, Vote SFU.

Their research led them to a key finding-- the biggest barrier to voting is not apathy. It is friction. Some of the barriers contributing to that friction include limited time, financial constraints, gaps in civic knowledge, and a lack of recruitment and mobilization efforts. “A student might support voting but still not know whether they’re registered, where their polling station is, what identification they need, or whether they can realistically fit voting into their schedule,” says Gough.

Focusing on the students who were genuinely interested in voting, Gough and his team decided to address the practical barriers that were preventing them from participating in politics. This eventually became the foundation of VoteSFU: using student governance as a conduit to direct democracy and reduce the friction between students and the act of voting.

The idea for Vote�鶹��Ƶemerged from the team's own experiences in student government, where they observed a disconnect between student governance and broader democratic participation.

The three former co-presidents of the developed a voter mobilization project which seeks answers to one question: If universities are already places where young people are learning, organizing, and building communities, why aren’t we using that environment more effectively to make voting easier?

According to Gough, their research drew on theories of rational choice and political mobilization, which was derived from their own coursework. “Voting can seem irrational when an individual feels that their time, information, and effort costs more than the probability that a single vote will determine an election," he says. “That is essentially the paradox of participation.”

While no individual voter can realistically determine the outcome of an election, the barriers associated with voter participation can be significantly reduced. And that’s what Vote�鶹��Ƶis designed to do. “Registration booths and reminders reduce informational costs. On-campus polling makes voting more convenient. Peer outreach addresses uncertainty,” explains Gough. “Lastly, academic incentives can offset some of the opportunity cost of taking time away from school to vote.”

One of the biggest potential achievements Gough and his team foresee with Vote�鶹��Ƶis increased student turnout, particularly among first-time voters. “I am also looking forward to creating a culture where voting becomes a normal part of student life rather than a task which needs to be figured out individually,” he says. “It will also help students running the initiative develop practical and leadership skills in communication, organization, outreach and civic engagement.”

One of the biggest challenges that Gough sees at this moment will be institutional co-ordination and maintaining non-partisanship. He says, “We’d need to work carefully with the , faculty, the university, and potentially Elections Canada to make sure the program facilitates participation without advocating for a particular party or candidate.”

While Vote�鶹��Ƶstarted out as a Demshot Challenge project, the team hopes it can eventually become a recurring initiative at SFU. “The overall longer-term vision is for this to become a recurring student-government initiative at �鶹��Ƶand potentially a model that other universities could adopt.”

When it comes to competitions like �鶹��ƵDemshot, students often think that they must solve an enormous societal problem. Reflecting on the team’s success, Gough encourages students to look around themselves and their environment.

“Sometimes the biggest opportunity is taking an existing system that you understand inside and out and finding a better way to use it. I think that's ultimately what made Vote�鶹��Ƶwork for us. We weren't trying to solve democracy in Canada overnight. We were asking: what can we realistically change at SFU, with the people, institutions, and resources that already exist here?

And sometimes, that's where the biggest change can happen.”