While some university students in Halifax are preparing to vote, others don’t know there’s an election happening.

Our newsroom spoke with multiple students on the Saint Mary’s University campus about the provincial election.

Several people, including Jackson Cassell, plan to vote but aren’t sure who they’ll vote for or how exactly to cast their ballot.

He said he just turned 18 so he may as well vote.

“I mean, I got the ability to do it. I might as well, right?” said Cassell.

The Nova Scotia provincial election is next week, Nov. 26.

Young people had the lowest voter turnout in the 2021 election.

There were 21,198 eligible voters between 18 and 24 in the 2021 provincial election. Of those people, only 39.1 per cent actually voted, according to statistics from Elections Nova Scotia.

Even fewer turned up for the 25 to 34 age group. Of 40,546 people eligible, only 36.5 per cent voted.

The highest turnout is from people from 55 to 64. Of the 94,001 people eligible, 22.2 per cent voted.

Early voting results show fewer people have voted so far in this election compared to the previous one, as well. The 2021 provincial election also had one of the province’s lowest since the 1960s.

Hayden Doull said he’s planning to vote because he recently turned 18, too.

“There’s nothing else to really do at 18, you can’t drink, can’t smoke,” said Doull.

“So I have to kill time somehow.”

Although Doull lives with his parents, he said he would like to move out, but rent is so expensive that he can’t, and he also worries that he won’t be able to afford a house in his future.

Most of the other people we spoke to echo Doull’s thoughts.

Jenna Clayton said she’s considering how different parties would affect others in her life who can’t vote.

“I care about where I live and the decisions that affect me, but also other people who maybe can’t vote … like anyone who’s underage, anyone who might be maybe not a Canadian citizen. At the moment, lots of decisions affect them as well,” said Clayton.

Saeed Abdelghami originally said he probably wouldn’t vote in the election.

“I don’t really care about politics. I just be living,” he said.

But he later changed his mind, saying he would look into it, but voting would ultimately be up to whether he feels like putting in the time to research who to vote for.

Another student, Rory McPherson, didn’t know there was a provincial election happening.

But he said he probably didn’t know many people who would vote.

“I just don’t know as much about it. I’m not too educated on the provincial [election].”