Runninghead:EFFECTIVEYOUTHVOTEROUTREACHMESSAGES1

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TowardsMoreEffectiveYouthVoterOutreachMessagesinCanada:HowisTrustBuilt?ThesisProposalArjunSinghRoyalRoadsUniversity

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EFFECTIVEYOUTHVOTEROUTREACHMESSAGES2TowardsMoreEffectiveYouthVoterOutreachMessagesinCanada:HowisTrustBuilt?

Introduction

InCanada,therearefourteendifferentgovernmentagenciesmanagingourelections:oneforeachprovinceandterritory,andoneforourcountryasawhole.Nineoutofthesefourteenagenciesundertakeyouthvoteroutreachprogramsofvarioustypes.Mystudyismotivatedbymybeliefthattheseprogramsaremoreimportanttodaythaneverbefore.Analyzingsurveydata,BlaisandLoewen(2009)estimatethatvoterturnoutamongCanadiansundertheageof30hasgonefrom69%in1965to37%in2006–adropof32%.Manyseethisdeclineinyoungvoterparticipationastroubling,andagrowingnumberofacademicresearchers,somesponsoredbyElectionsCanada,aretryingtounderstandthecausesforthedecline(Turcotte,2007;BlaisandLowen,2009).Otherscholarsseektorecommendeffectiveyouthvoteroutreachactivities(Howe,2007;O’Neill,2007).Myreviewofthisliterature,however,suggestsagapthatcanbefilledwithanappliedcommunicationresearchstudy.Electionsagencies,non-governmentalorganizations,andinterestedcitizensproducepromotionalmaterialtoencourageyoungpeopletovote.Thesepromotionalmaterialscarryvariousmessages.Myownpreliminaryresearch,detailedfurtherbelow,suggeststhesemessagesarebasedonthreemajorthemes:personalandgrouppower;civicandmoralduty;andhopeandinspiration.TherehasbeennoacademicresearchthatasksCanadianyouththemselveswhichmessagesmightbethemosteffectiveinmotivatingthemtovote.Currentacademicresearchfocusesonpotentialreasonsfor

Sherrell Steele

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10-12-15 3:52 PM

Comment:

Howarethefirstandsecondpartsofthisparagraphrelated?

EFFECTIVEYOUTHVOTEROUTREACHMESSAGES3lowyouthvoterturnout(Blais,Gidengil,Nevitte,&Nadeau,2004;Blais&Loewen,2009;Howe,2007;O’Neill,2007;Stolle&Cruz,2005;Turcotte,2007;Young&Cross,2007)andpossibleactivitiesthatcouldbeundertakentoaddressthisproblem(Howe,2007;O’Neill,2007;Pammet&Leduc,2003;Turcotte,2007;Stolle&Cruz,2005).Framingmyresearchfurther,Iaminterestedinoutreachmessagesthathelpcreatepositiveattitudesandbuildtrust.Putnam(1995)assertsthatincreasedtrustisoneofthefoundationalelementsofbuildingastrongercommunity.Iwouldarguethatbuildingtrustisnotonlytherightthingtodo,butalsocreateslongerterm,stablerelationships–inthisstudy,thisrelationshipwouldbebetweenyouthandtheCanadianelectoralsystem.Betterunderstanding

communicationfortrust

willbeakeyelementofthisresearchandwillinformeveryaspectoftheresearchprocess.Thusmyresearchquestionis:Whatmightbemoreeffectivemessagestobuildtrustwithhabitualnon-votingCanadianyouthandencouragethemtobecomehabitualvoters?Theoverarchinggoalofmyresearchmethodologyistobeaswelcomingandopenaspossibletotheopinionsofyouthonelectoralengagementandvoting.Iplantoinvitenon-votingCanadians,aged18to30,todeliberativefocusgroupsindifferentpartsofthecountry.Theseeventswillbeplannedandfacilitatedcarefully-informedbyEdgarSchein’sProcessConsultationmethod(1990)andbyrecentinductiveresearchbyMansbridge,Hartz-Karp,Amengual,andGastil(2006)oneffectivedeliberativegatherings.Theeventswillbedividedintothreemainactivities:First,theparticipantswillbeinvitedtosharetheirthoughtsandfeelingsondifferentyouthvoteroutreachmessages.Second,theparticipantswillbeinvited