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Candidates, advocates urge young Richmondites to vote

Several of the youngest Richmond candidates this municipal election are urging more Millennials and members of Generation Z to consider running for elected office or, at the very least, voting.
Youth vote
From left: Caitlin McCutchen, president of the Kwantlen Student Association; Kelly Greene, Richmond city council candidate and Henry Yao, Richmond city council candidate. Photos submitted

Several of the youngest Richmond candidates this municipal election are urging more Millennials and members of Generation Z to consider running for elected office or, at the very least, voting.

Kelly Greene, a council candidate with Richmond Citizens’ Association, considers herself an “old millennial” at 38. But she’s still passionate about getting young people, especially young women, involved in politics. 

“The decisions that we’re making today are going to affect young people more than any other group in society,” she said.

On Sept. 18, she attended the Forum on Millennial Leadership in Vancouver along with dozens of other young municipal candidates in the Lower Mainland.

Gavin Dew organized the conference to demonstrate that even tough young people are “drastically underrepresented” in all levels of government, they’re ready to lead. 

“If there's one message we hope candidates took home, it's ‘you are not alone’ and ‘you can do this’,” Dew said. “It's time for Millennials to stand up, step up and claim our place at the table.”

Millennials are the generation that comes after Generation X but before Generation Z. They’re said to be born between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Many members of Generation Z, those born in the late 1990s and in the new millennium, will be able to vote for the first time on Oct. 20.

At Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Richmond campus, Kwantlen Student Association president Caitlin McCutchen says they’re trying to convince those first-time voters to get informed and get to the ballot box. They have tables set up at all four KPU campuses with information on the municipal election and the referendum on proportional representation.

“I guess because [municipal elections are] not as high profile, people tend to not really care about them,” McCutchen said. “But municipalities affect your everyday life from transit to garbage pickup.”

She said students face barriers to voting, like not knowing when, where or how to vote—or if they’re able to vote at all. That's why she's helping run the education campaign.There are even laptops set up for KPU students to register to vote and sign-up sheets where they write down their email and city so volunteers can email them a list of candidates in their area.

McCutchen also said students may be less engaged in municipal politics because leaders aren’t talking about issues that are important to them.

At least one young Richmond candidate agrees. Andy Chiang, 34, is running independently for city council. He says protecting Richmond’s agricultural land has gotten a lot of attention this municipal election, but he doesn’t know if it’s a hot topic among young people.

“What would be is ride-sharing programs, like bringing Uber or Lyft into Richmond,” he said.

Another issue pertinent to young people, many candidates agreed, was housing.

“There’s an affordability crisis for both renters and homeowners,” said Henry Yao, a 39-year-old city council candidate with RITE Richmond. “Not every young person wants to live with their parents … but people are forced to … or move further away from the city.”