An open letter to the committee on electoral reform

Two questions that continue to bedevil many people is: why do people not bother to vote; and what should be done about this continued lack of voter turnout?

This is an issue of particular significance in Nova Scotia, which historically had, along with PEI, the highest percentage of voters in Canada. To their credit, the Members of the House of Assembly have struck a Select Committee on Participation in the Democratic Process www.gov.ns.ca) and are seeking citizen input, “to find ways to get more Nova Scotians to vote.”

Yes, there is the simple answer; adopt the Australian law of prosecuting those who fail to vote. Then there is the Italian system of publishing the names of non-participants in the paper. In the pre-‘environmentally friendly days’, one preferred the Italian system to that of Australia.

But today, with our desire to preserve our environment, it would mean sacrificing far too much paper, and the same can be said for the legalistic Australian system. So we must search in other directions for a solution.

One often hears non-voters say they did not vote because the politicians do not listen and that they’re all the same anyway, so who cares except the politicians and those who are looking for some sort of patronage. Unfortunately there is truth in what they say. Younger voters argue that there is nothing in any ‘platform’ for them and again, they are frequently correct.

They forget what they promise

How often do we hear a politician saying elect me, or in the case of a Party, elect us, and we promise to undertake the following policy. Then, once in office, they forget what they promised or come forward with an excuse why they could not fulfill their promises. This leads to a form of cynicism with which one can agree. Put it another way, the politicians ‘turn off’ the voter by their caviler and cynical attitude toward the electorate.

Politicians who have charisma often lose the faith of the electorate because either they do not deliver or once in office they neglect those who elected them.

Just look at the support Pierre Trudeau received in 1968 as compared to 1974? Already we note the changes in support for Obama now that he has won the battle of the Primaries and he shifts his position from the left to the centre of the road.

Many of those who supported Obama are apparently becoming dissatisfied with him as he changes his strategy. One can argue that Obama is right by doing so as he could not be elected staying on the left. Still, one wonders how many of those who supported him in the primaries will not vote for him in November?

Thus, one of the reasons for non-participation rests with the politicians and the political parties.

There is evidence from voting studies that those who do not participate in elections or are ‘turned off’ by the politicians lack a sound knowledge of the political process, the act of electioneering, and the constitution itself. In far too many cases, the education system has failed to educate citizens about the electoral process.

There are too many of P.T. Barnum’s “one born every minute” within our political process. Citizens need better education in the entire political process than they are receiving currently. There is nothing wrong with encouraging a certain amount of skepticism and a mild dose of cynicism among youth voters. This is a job for the Department of Education, our universities and colleges, and a politically neutral media.

What about the electoral process?

What about the electoral process itself? Is it part of the problem? The American state of Oregon uses almost entirely the ‘postal vote’. One wonders if a greater use of the postal vote would encourage greater participation? Yes, there are problems with the postal vote and it, like all forms of voting, can be manipulated by the unscrupulous.

On the other hand, jurisdictions like Oregon and Ontario (for Municipal elections) have found that the postal vote has merit.

Yes, televoting was used in Nova Scotia and it had its problems and was discontinued. However, this was an error. The system developed by MT&T failed for technical reasons, not because the process was at fault. It is unfortunate that MTT/Aliant gave up on ‘televoting’ just as it was becoming fully functional.

Some may argue that one day is insufficient time for an individual to vote. This is perhaps a specious argument. The adoption of postal voting plus televoting and Internet voting as well as an adequate number of days in which the advance polls are open should give every voter sufficient opportunity to vote.

However, in far too many instances there is an insufficient number of advance polls available to the voters: one or two per riding is not enough, particularly in some of our large rural ridings.

When it comes to municipal elections, our record of participation is awful; in fact, it is a disgrace. Saturday may not be the appropriate day for these contests.

A great deal more information including advance polls is required for our municipal elections. Penalizing one for not voting may not be practical, but what about a small tax credit of say one per cent off one’s tax bill for voting?

One could just see the landlords and condo committees getting their people out to vote if that were to be the case.

The issue of ‘fixed’ election dates deserves a column of its own.

Some may argue that changes to the electoral law would make electoral skullduggery more prevalent than it is today. Let us remember that impersonating and telegraphing of voters using our current system is not all that uncommon.

What we need to do is make it more convenient for people to vote and perhaps in so doing we will clean up our electoral process. Impersonating a voter is quite easy when so few individuals vote.

In the meantime, the MLAs deserve our input for it is our voting system that they are trying to improve.