Voter Turnout and Voter Fatigue
Hi Neighbours!
I wanted to write a little bit about voter turnout and voter fatigue. First, the fatigue bit:
We held a Federal election in September 2021 (62.3% turnout), then a Provincial election in June 2022 (43.5% turnout), this will be the third election in a year – I get it, that’s more elections than we normally have in such a short window of time.
The voter list that candidates all have access to indicated 34,450 eligible voters in Wards 8 & 14 to cast a ballot for public school board trustee – in the 2018 municipal election, only 11,144 individuals cast a ballot for trustee (which would equate to a 32% turnout, using today’s voter list) – just shy of 42% of voters in Wards 8 & 14 cast a ballot for councillor – why do some people not complete the ballot?
Even if you don’t have children in one of the ward schools, voting for school board trustee is your way to put who you believe to be the most competent person in trust of 14 schools (wards 8 & 14). These students will one day be taking care of us in our years of need.
This can’t be stressed enough – but most of your day to day needs in today’s world are covered by the municipal layer of government (Mayor and Councillors, and the School Boards) – they do so much for our residents and families – if anything, the municipal elections should have the HIGHEST turnout of the three levels of government, and not the lowest.
So what do we (candidates and those tasked with elections) do? Well, my prescription is easy (and I hope effective!) – focus on staying positive and focus on what I can bring as a candidate. I know personally, as a voter, nothing turns me off faster than a candidate slinging nothing but insults and offering no solutions. With positivity as my motivator, I hope I can convince many of you to head to the polls on October 24th (or even before, at the advance polls on Oct 7/8 and 14/15)!
There are four of us vying for your vote for public school board trustee – even if you don’t vote for me (and I hope you do!) I hope you at least vote.
What every candidate should know is that even if someone doesn’t vote for you, but they do vote, then the seeds of being a repeat voter are being planted, something our democracy needs more than anything. If they are a repeat voter? Run again, and maybe convince them next time.
What do you think? Can we flatten the fatigue by turbo-charging the turnout?
-Ben