Program outline
Here will be depicted the main general aspects of the Voters in Training program. It will mainly give an overview of what the program consists of, its structure, and the tools available through the program’s head office as well as resources and services available.

2.1    Structure
There are 5 main stages as outlined by the program. They are designed to help each voter in training build his or her sense of civic responsibility. They are the main focused aspects of the program that takes the voters through each component of the electoral process. This will make the voters in training more aware of the more in-depth happenings that surround an electoral process beyond the simple vote. They will be able to better understand their choices and learn to be more attentive to the detailed implication of all the parties involved for a particular election.

Stage 1: “My Elections”
This stage is aimed making the voters able to recognize the various components of the Canadian and Quebec democratic systems, in addition to describing how both systems work in general. It includes information guides to know more about the democracy, the various political actors and institutions, the elections process as well as the division of powers.


Stage 2: “Becoming Informed”
By the end of this stage, voters in training will be able to recognize and use in a critical manner the various information sources at their disposal during an election campaign. For this part of the program, they emphasize on the voters remaining constantly aware of what is happening, being proposed, or being debated. The voters are in essence required to remain informed through all the possible venues of information, whether it is media outlets or simply through discussions amongst peers. Voters in training must still remain capable to dissect and process the information by making their own judgment and critical thinking, as certain media outlets of sources relating the electoral information can often be biased or a reflection of the author’s interests. At the same time, they must be able to properly judge the trustworthiness and relevance of any type of information given by or against certain political parties and/or candidates. 

Stage 3: “My Opinion”
Through this section, voters in training will be able to explain their choices from among the options presented during the campaign, taking into account their concerns and values. According to the program and seemingly in our general idea from taking part in decision-making, taking part in the discussions and debates preceding the election is just as important to the exercise of citizenship. Sharing your opinion, defending your ideas and listening to those of others are attitudes to be encouraged and practiced. Indeed, to argue and debate is not to quarrel; it is to participate actively and responsibly in the democratic process that elections represent.

Stage 4: “Getting Involved”
By the end of this stage, voters in training will be able to voice their opinions and recognize the various possible types of partisan and non-partisan involvement during an election campaign. There are many ways of involvement that can take place during the campaign, such as: volunteering, activism, student involvement, student associations, partisan and non-partisan involvement, expression of opinion through open letters and/or debates, etc. The program’s outline also states that in order for either a campaigning candidate or the eventual winning candidate to be fully implicated and productive, the voters should not only take position with a certain party or candidate, but do what they can to be involved throughout either the campaigning process or be involved in any event that concerns the candidate’s activities that concerns the voters directly.

Stage 5: “My vote”
Within this stage of the program, voters in training will be able to organize the election and take part in it, following criteria for the organization of free and democratic elections. They will also be able to understand the history and importance of the right to vote. This is obviously the culminating point, but cannot go smoothly without rigorous planning. Polling Day organizers have a whole set of rules to follow and to enforce in order to guarantee the absolute neutrality of the process and the secrecy of the balloting. In other words, this program’s process follows the exact same process of an actual electoral campaign and voting period.

2.2    Tools
There are many tools available through the program’s head office as well as cooperation and aid from the ‘Director General of the Elections of Quebec’ and the ‘Secretariat a la Jeunesse’ (Secretariat to the Youth’). The main tools that are handed through the program are all the necessities to prepare the electoral process from the very beginning with material provided through the coordinating office, guides to help the people involved keep track of the happenings with the program and the targeted candidates, suggested venues to explore to induce more involvement, the actual or model ballot boxes as well as voting stations, etc. All of these are provided so long as we commit to being directly involved with the program of ‘Voters in Training’. It is free, convenient and seemingly easy to be directly attached to this program for the particular purpose of bringing an already established program that has been known to work and to help bring more interest and involvement into the electoral process with the Youth of our own region.

2.3    Services/Resources
There are governing bodies that coordinate and provide the participating schools/organizations with all the necessary services and tools for the required duration of the electoral process. The coordinator of the project has assured us that even though they normally follow certain local, provincial or national elections to facilitate the program’s global turn-out, they mentioned that it is possible for us to use the same program with all its components to jump start the program within our own region according to our own realities and events. The main financial and coordinating bodies for this program are:

• Director General of Elections of Quebec

• ‘Secretariat a la Jeunesse’

• Youth Forum of Montreal

• ‘Voters in Training’ coordinating office