Young Voters of P.E.I. on hiatus indefinitely, co-founder says
'We just thought it was best to sort of formalize that we're off-Island'
After three years of hosting community events and bringing together young people across the Island, Young Voters of P.E.I. has announced it will be going on hiatus — indefinitely.
Co-founders Jesse Hitchcock and Sarah Bulman will be stepping away from the youth-focused organization to pursue other things for the time being.
"Now that we're both away, we just thought it was best to sort of formalize that we're off-Island, we won't be able to do programming for the federal elections on P.E.I.," Hitchcock said.
Hitchcock is pursuing an internship with the non-profit, non-partisan organization GreenPac in Ottawa with a focus on environmental issues, while Bulman is in St. Catherines, Ont., learning about heritage restoration.
Getting out the youth vote
The group formed in 2015 to help galvanize youth on the Island — no matter what party they were in support of — to get out and vote.
During its run, the group managed to organize debates with candidates, viewing parties and an online presence which aimed to keep P.E.I. youth informed and engaged with Island politics and events.
The group generated a few hundred followers on both Twitter and Facebook and held events such as viewing parties on election nights, which have managed to bring in gatherings of about 100 young voters.
Passing the torch
Although the co-founders will be stepping back, Hitchcock hopes other young people in the community will continue on with similar programming.
"I think people are engaged," Hitchcock said. "I think there are a lot of people on P.E.I. who have great ideas and who are passionate about this stuff."
"It doesn't have to be under the Young Voters P.E.I. name, it's the content that matters."
Hitchcock says she has approached a couple of people in the community as possible candidates to take the reins of the organization but so far there haven't been any takers.
"The brand had so much to do with Sarah and I that people were not sort of interested in trying to replicate that. But also the non-partisan nature makes it tough too," Hitchcock said.
Hitchcock says even though the co-founders won't be as active the Facebook page will still be updated from time to time with helpful information.
Young Voters' success on P.E.I. just demonstrates that, you know, people are ready to have these types of conversations.- Jesse Hitchcock
'People are ready'
"I don't want to close it down by any means because there's definitely some informational content we can share. But we haven't totally mapped out what that might look like," she said.
She said if there are any people who are interested in continuing on with Young Voters or even pursuing similar projects on their own, she is happy to help. People who are interested can contact her through the Facebook page.
"I think if anything — Young Voters' success on P.E.I. just demonstrates that, you know, people are ready to have these types of conversations and are interested and maybe a little bit frustrated and I really believe that this kind of work will keep happening and people are going to keep participating," she said.