Three local coffee shops have brewed up an idea they hope will increase voter turnout in Victoria’s municipal election.
The owners of 2% Jazz, Habit and Shatterbox coffee shops will be stamping their coffee cups with custom messages designed to steer customers to the Vote Pledge 2014 website.
The stamps encourage people to vote Nov. 15 and direct them to votepledge2014.ca. Slogans say, City Politics is About: Politicians. Red Tape. You; and, You Can Create the City You Want.
“I liked the idea of trying to get younger people engaged and paying attention to what’s happening,” said Shane Devereaux, owner of Habit Coffee.
“We have social media and all these different ways of community things but I thought why not throw some on some stamps to go on cups to go into the hands of 20-somethings all day long, to maybe make them think about at least going to the website.”
Devereaux has used a similar method in the past to promote the Rifflandia music festival, and Sam Jones, owner of 2% Jazz, had success promoting TED Talks.
“We thought that it really heightened the conversations in coffee shops about TED Talks, and I think that conversations that happen in coffee shops spread,” Jones said. “That’s where the majority of good ideas are fostered and developed.”
Kalen Harris, of Shatterbox Coffee Bar, said the idea was a good fit for his shop.
“Shatterbox is very much community focused and we do have a lot of the younger people that we do see every day,” Harris said. “They have a lot of political ideas, but they don’t necessarily know that they have political influence, especially in municipal politics.”
The Vote Pledge site was launched in March by Victoria Coun. Lisa Helps, who is running for mayor in the Nov. 15 election. The website is inspired by one launched by Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi in the 2013 campaign. Since first elected in 2010, Nenshi has gained a reputation for his social media savvy grassroots campaigns.
Helps hopes the efforts will help generate a buzz around the election among the younger demographic.
“Rather than just platitudes about ‘go vote, it’s good for you,’ let’s get youth where they are. Where are they? They’re in coffee shops. Then drive everybody to the Vote Pledge website that tells you [things like] where to vote and what are some of the issues. It adds another element and it’s fun,” Helps said.
“In the provincial election that just happened in Ontario, there were all these efforts aimed at getting younger people out to vote and they failed miserably. This is a creative way to do it.”
Just 27 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the last election, Helps said.
“I’m hell-bent and determined to raise that to 50 per cent in this election, and that’s going to happen if we get to the 40 and unders,” she said.
The website offers the opportunity to pledge to vote in the election by registering online. Those who do will receive regular reminders of how, when and where to vote as well as information on events such as all-candidates meetings.
The site is already getting some traction. As of Tuesday, 265 people had pledged to vote. Both Helps and incumbent Mayor Dean Fortin are on the site, as are four council candidates.
