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Consider lending your skills to the democratic cause
Albertans will head to the polls some time between March 1 and May 31, according to amendments to the Election Act that came into force in December.
Once the writ has been dropped, Elections Alberta, the province’s nine registered political parties, their candidates and independent candidates will require volunteers. As a teacher interested in the future of public education, you might consider lending your considerable skills to the democratic cause before, during or after the 28-day campaign period.
Volunteering at election time can be an exciting and rewarding, if exhausting, venture. In most campaigns, volunteers far outnumber paid staff. Working in a partisan or nonpartisan capacity will give you not only insight into the electoral process, issues and candidates but also the opportunity to influence the calibre and outcome of the campaign. By becoming politically engaged with the party or candidate of your choice, you can also help determine the conditions under which you teach and your students learn. Perhaps most importantly, your engagement will help demonstrate to students through personal example the values of citizenship and democracy.
You can volunteer in either a partisan or a nonpartisan capacity. More than 15,000 Albertans serve as nonpartisan election workers during provincial elections. Some, including returning officers, election clerks and administrative assistants, work throughout the entire campaign period. Others, including deputy returning officers, registration officers and poll clerks, work only at advance polling stations and at polling stations on election day. All election workers receive modest remuneration for their services.
You can also volunteer in a partisan capacity for the party or candidate of your choice, usually but not necessarily the one who is running in your constituency. The two most important volunteers in any campaign are the campaign manager and the official agent. As their titles suggest, the campaign manager manages the entire campaign from start to finish while the official agent maintains and files financial records with Elections Alberta. But you don’t have to start at the top. Other positions can involve door knocking, sign distribution, fundraising, communications, phone canvassing, volunteer coordination, scheduling and election day organizing. Often, one person will perform two or more roles.
Many campaigns will ask prospective volunteers to fill out a form, outlining their skills and interests and the amount of time they are able to commit to the campaign. The volunteer chair (if there is one) will then try to match each person with the most appropriate role. You may even want to try out a few roles to find the one you’re best suited for.
For more information on volunteering at election time, contact the party or candidate of your choice or Elections Alberta at 100, 11510 Kingsway Avenue NW, Edmonton AB, T5G 2Y5, telephone: 780-427-7191 (in Edmonton) or
310-0000 (toll free from elsewhere in Alberta); fax: 780-422-2900; e-mail:
info@elections.ab.ca; website: www.elections.ab.ca.
Links to the websites of the nine registered political parties are available on Elections Alberta’s website, and the websites of some of those parties provide information about or links to the websites of their candidates.
