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To vote or not to vote
In his cup of coffee with us on pages 3 and 13 of this issue, Durham’s newly-elected MP, Erin O’Toole, expresses his disappointment at the low turnout in last month’s by-election. We emphatically agree with him.
In Durham, less than 35% of the eligible voters cared enough to take a trip to the polling station on Nov. 26. Since Mr. O’Toole took a little over 50% of the votes cast, that means he was elected by less than 18% of the electorate. If that seems sad, consider the case of his new buddy in the Conservative caucus, Joan Crockatt of Calgary Centre. Despite the nationwide publicity her race garnered in the last couple of weeks before the by-election, the turnout was a pathetically low 29.4%, and because of a close three-way race with the Liberals and Greens, Ms. Crockatt emerged victorious with only a little over a third of the votes cast. So she got her ticket to Ottawa as the demonstrated choice of only a little more than a tenth of the Calgary Centre electorate.
Granted, voter turnout is traditionally much lower in a by-election; in Durham only 18 months ago in the general federal election, the turnout was 63%. The experts say this is because by-elections have little capability to change standings in the Commons, and thus generate less voter interest. This might have been true here in Durham, where the order of finish (and proportions of vote) were substantially similar to last year. But in Calgary and Victoria, the Greens came very close, and in Calgary the Liberals came even closer. Higher turnouts might well have turned the tide. Two more Greens, and even one more Liberal, would have made a considerable difference in Ottawa.
And even though turnouts are respectable in federal elections, they usually get less so the farther down you travel on the governmental ladder. In Uxbridge’s last municipal election, although there was a hard-fought mayoralty battle and lots of choice in the wards, still only a little more than half the eligible voters (51.2%) chose to exercise their franchise.
This apathy is frustrating, and difficult to understand. Voting, after all, is one of the fundamental characteristics of a democracy. If we value our democracy so much, why do so many of us refuse to participate in it? It’s not like it’s an onerous responsibility. At each level, you’re asked to take a few minutes every four years and mark an X on a ballot. Assuming it takes about half an hour from the time you leave home till the time you get back, and assuming your voting life is about 70 years, your country asks you to spend some 30 hours out of your entire life playing your part in the working of Canada’s democracy. Many spend more, of course, attending all-candidates or council meetings, reading party brochures or media coverage. But nothing says your X needs to be educated; it just needs to be there.
Perhaps it’s time we contemplated “compulsory voting”, where you face fines or even jail time if you don’t vote. This system exists in about a dozen countries around the world, from Brazil to Singapore to Luxembourg, to the tiny Pacific island of Nauru. But one of those countries is Australia, a fellow Commonwealth member that we often compare ourselves to. Compulsory voting has been the norm Down Under since 1925, almost a century. And in terms of getting out the electorate, it works - the usual turnout is greater than 95%.
In a future Cosmos, we’ll take a closer look at Australia’s system, how it works and how the voters like it. Our democracy could maybe learn a thing or two.
July 14, 2011
