Tri-Cities students Greener than adult voters, according to mock election results

In a mock provincial election, Tri-Cities students showed much stronger support for the BC Greens than was reflected among the adult population.

More than 7,700 student ballots were cast across 44 schools in the five Tri-Cities electoral districts as part of Student Vote BC 2026, a parallel election organized by CIVIX to give students who are not yet eligible to vote an opportunity to participate in the democratic process.

The results correctly predicted the Conservative gains in the Oct. 24 provincial election, with students choosing Conservative candidates in three of the five districts: Coquitlam–Burke Mountain, Coquitlam–Maillardville and Port Coquitlam. 

Students in Port Moody–Burquitlam, however, favoured New Democrats over Conservatives, while students in New Westminster–Coquitlam handed an outright victory to the Greens.

The most striking difference between the mock student vote and the provincial tallies was the amount of support for the Greens, which received nearly three times the share of votes among participating students (26.7 percent) as they did among actual voters (9.3 percent) across the five ridings.

Comparing the student ballots with the 100,905 valid ballots in the real election, the Conservatives and NDP both attracted substantially less support. Conservatives received 32.7 percent of the student vote (down 12.7 percent); the NDP received 30 percent (down 13.7 percent), while the Greens were up 17.4 percent.

How Students voted in each riding

Coquitlam–Burke Mountain

Conservative Ryan Peterson won the student vote with 370 ballots (29.7 percent), narrowly defeating NDP incumbent Jodie Wickens, who received 331 (26.6 percent). Green candidate Valerie Morrison followed with 305 votes (24.5 percent), while Centre BC’s Kaden Mann received 238 (19.1 percent).

The actual election was much less competitive. Peterson won with approximately 52.5 percent of the vote, compared with 39 percent for Wickens. Morrison received just under six percent, a much smaller share than her student support.

Coquitlam–Maillardville

Conservative Matt Liang also won both elections, receiving 692 student votes (40 percent), compared with 603 (34.8 percent) for incumbent New Democrat Jennifer Blatherwick.

Green candidate Nicola Spurling attracted 437 student votes (25.2 percent).

In the actual election, Liang defeated Blatherwick with approximately 49.6 percent of the vote to her 41.5 percent. Spurling finished with 8.9 percent, meaning her share of the student vote was nearly three times her share of the adult vote.

New Westminster–Coquitlam

The biggest difference between the student and actual results came in New Westminster–Coquitlam, where Green candidate Maureen Curran comfortably won the student election.

Curran received 178 votes (47 percent), nearly double the 92 votes (24.3 percent) cast for NDP incumbent Jennifer Whiteside. Conservative Michele Lau finished third with 89 votes (23.5 per cent), followed by independent Gerry Lenoski with 20.

In the actual provincial election, however, Whiteside retained the seat for the NDP by a wide margin, receiving 50.4 percent of the vote, compared to Lau’s 34.2 percent, and Curran’s 15.4 percent.

Port Coquitlam

Students narrowly favoured Conservative Keenan Adams over longtime NDP MLA Mike Farnworth, giving Adams 854 votes (32 percent) to Farnworth’s 753 (28.3 percent).

Green candidate Stephanie Hendy finished third with 649 votes (24.4 per cent), followed by Libertarian Lewis Dahlby with 249 and unaffiliated candidate Lee-Ann Bates with 160.

The actual result went the other way, with Farnworth securing a seventh consecutive term as MLA for Port Coquitlam. Farnworth received 45.3 percent of the vote, compared with Adam’s 43.5 percent, and Hendy’s 8.5 percent.

Port Moody–Burquitlam

Port Moody–Burquitlam produced the closest student contest of the five ridings.

Incumbent New Democrat Rick Glumac received 550 votes (31.4 percent), edging out Conservative John McEwen, who collected 536 (30.6 percent) — a difference of just 14 ballots.

Green candidate Wei Chou was close behind with 505 votes (28.8 percent), while Centre BC’s Freddy Rawji received 161 (9.2 percent).

The actual election produced the opposite result. McEwen, the former mayor of Anmore, defeated Glumac with approximately 46.9 percent of the vote, compared with 42.1 percent for the incumbent. Chou received 8.2 percent, while Rawji received 2.8 percent.