By Judi McLeod
Monday, September 4, 2006
Public apathy has long dogged municipal elections. Studies have been conducted to find out why and advertising campaigns geared to pick up public interest in civic elections have made little difference.
Peter Sobot, a young Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School student found a way to give hometown elections a boost in Burlington, about 60 kilometers west of Toronto.
Proving that some entrepreneurs start off young, Peter is the creator of www.BurlingtonVotes2006.com. The new website educates voters about which candidates are running in each ward, what their platforms are, and makes it fun to participate in municipal election campaigns. On www.BurlingtonVotes2006.com, members of the public at large can read about the candidates running for election and re-election in the November 13 municipal race, and can actually cast a vote for the candidate of their choice online.
When Canadafreepress.com checked in on the site yesterday, voting was brisk with more than 500 votes cast, for a variety of candidates. Even though the site has only been posted for one month, 5,000 people have already visited BurlingtonVotes2006.com.
BurlingtonVotes2006.com has caught on with candidates vying for election, seven of whom have already taken ads with Burlington's youngest entrepreneur.
This puts a new twist on September's traditional How I Spent My Summer Holidays assigned by schoolteachers everywhere. While most youngsters turn in essays about sailing, swimming, windsurfing and other summer pastimes, Peter could always write How I sparked new interest in Burlington's Civic Elections.
It's not that Peter doesn't enjoy the beach and other summertime activities, it's just that when the sun goes down you'll generally find him busy at work on his computer.
With an average of 94% last year, Peter applies a certain passion to everything he does.
a defender of the underdog even at age 14, Peter believes that people should be more interested in grassroots politics.
"The municipal government is the one closest to the people," he says.
CFP wanted to know how Peter's brainchild originated.
"I came up with the idea for BurlingtonVotes2006 after the last federal election," the a student told CFP in a telephone interview. "I saw that in the federal election, there were signs everywhere. People were making a big deal of it, and for good reason. However, when I heard about the Burlington municipal election, there were few big signs, and there seemed to be much less interest in the municipal election than the federal one. So I decided to make BurlingtonVotes2006.com to try to get people interested in the municipal level of government because the municipal election is just as important as the federal election."
Voters can quickly find out who is running in their riding and can access the candidates resume. Voters can even cast their votes in a poll for the Mayor, Councillors, trustees and Regional Chair.
Setting up websites comes naturally to Peter, who designed the website of Conservative MP Mike Wallace in his spare time. Wallace had been a Burlington councillor before running in last January 23rd's federal election.
"To me It was fun because I love working on the Internet," Peter recalled.
Having discovered that public interest in the grassroots level of government is dwindling, Peter, who enters Grade 10 this year, is hoping to make his website a class project.
When it comes to web design, the 14-year-old is amazing. CFP resident techie Brian Thompson says Peter's web design is the best he's ever seen.
Born on December 26, Peter says he only knows three others who share the same birthday "and they are all in the same school".
Being born the day after Christmas, he says, "is like having two Christmas Days" because you always get birthday presents the day after.
Thinking like a typical entrepreneur, Peter says he's now thinking of duplicating BurlingtonVotes2006.com in the next federal election.
"It's a lot of work, but if www.BurlingtonVotes2006.com goes well, I'm going to take the concept federal" he says.
Only a true entrepreneur would include "if" on a website that's already realized 5,000 visitors in only one month on the worldwide web.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1997-2024 the individual authors. Site Copyright 1997-2024 Canada Free Press.Com Privacy Statement