WATERLOO, Ont. (CUP) — Stemming from political commentator Rick Mercer’s call to action, 18 “vote mobs” of students encouraging youth to participate in next month’s federal election have sprung up across the country.

Spreading from an original vote mob at the University of Guelph, which took place on March 31, videos of students nation-wide have begun appearing on YouTube, Facebook events have been created to encourage young voters to participate in similar rallies and the organization Leadnow has begun more initiatives to encourage the youth vote.

“What Gracen [Johnson] and Yvonne [Su] started at Guelph has just taken off and it’s something I hope our video is really going to be able to build on,” said Elizabeth Dubois, a student at the University of Ottawa who organized a vote mob that took place April 9.

Not only is the objective of the vote mobs to encourage students to vote, it is also to call attention to issues important to students that some feel are being ignored by politicians.

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Organizer of April 14’s vote mob at McGill University Toby Davine said she hopes the event will “show the candidates in the election that we’re voting, that we’re engaged, that we’re a very powerful demographic and we’re trying to spread the word and challenge other universities to do the same.”

The organization Leadnow has undertaken the role of providing a central place to compile videos of the vote mobs and get youth across the country interested in the upcoming election. Leadnow is also incorporating other initiatives such as a “vote wave” where students get together to vote during the advanced polls, being held over the Easter weekend.

“We’re trying to combine the vot