Record low voter turnout raises question marks
Josh Tapper. Staff Reporter
Published 18 minutes ago
Friday, October 07, 2011
Source
A woman casts her ballot at a voting station in Toronto on Thursday. Roughly 4.1 million — or 49.2 per cent of eligible voters — filled out ballots, according to Elections Ontario
Here come the excuses.
With voter turnout in Thursday’s provincial election dropping to an all-time low, political scientists, pundits and the public are serving up explanations for why fewer than 50 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.
Of a population over 13 million, roughly 4.1 million — or 49.2 per cent of eligible voters — filled out ballots, according to Elections Ontario.
On Friday, Ontarians took to the Twittersphere, dismayed and disappointment by a province-wide display of apathy. One called the results “shameful.” Another called the turnout “abysmal.”
Laura Stephenson, co-director of the Political Behavior Research Group at the University of Western Ontario, said voters had a hard time engaging with the party leaders or their platforms.
“Not a lot of average Ontarians thought there was anything big at stake,” she said. “It just appears that people don’t feel inspired enough to get out to the polls.”
Stephenson pointed to a 2007 University of British Columbia study that linked low voter turnout to a decline in political competitiveness.
Thursday’s numbers dropped from a previous low set in the 2007 election, when turnout hit 52.1 per cent.
Not even unseasonably warm temperatures across Ontario and polling numbers that predicted a close finish between the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives could move people to the polls.
Fixed election dates — implemented in Ontario by Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals in 2005 — were meant to encourage people to vote by adding predictability to an election season.
“It didn’t turn out that way,” said John Meisel, a professor emeritus of political science at Queen’s University. “This whole thing is still very much a puzzle.”
About 625,000 Ontarians filled out early ballots, a 175,000 increase from 2007. In 2011, Elections Ontario offered voters 10 days of advance polling, 15 days of assistive voting, 23 days to apply to cast a ballot by mail and 28 days to vote by special ballot in person or by mail. In 2007, there were only 13 days of advance polling.
The positive response to advance balloting indicates online voting could make voting more attractive and easier to accomplish, said Peter Loewen, a political science professor at the University of Toronto-Mississauga.
Elections Ontario reportedly has a beta online voting system it wants to try out in the next available by-election.
Loewen, a collaborator with the Canadian Election Study, an election analysis think-tank partly funded by Elections Canada, stressed that the numbers are less a reflection of the 2011 campaign than they are of a larger shift in the way Canadians view voting.
“It’s due to large societal changes, changes in how interested people are in politics, decline in young people’s interests and a marked decline in the belief that voting is a moral obligation,” Loewen said.
Stephenson also speculated that voters suffered from “election overload” after a heated federal election earlier this year. Still, just over 61 per cent of Canadians voted federally in May.
Provincial elections elsewhere in Canada also experienced lower-than-expected voting numbers. In Prince Edward Island, turnout was at 76.4 per cent for Monday’s election, the lowest since 1966. In Manitoba, 57 per cent voted in Tuesday’s election. The Northwest Territories turnout on Monday was dismal at less than 35 per cent.
In Ontario, turnout has been trending downward for at least two decades. In 1990, when Bob Rae’s New Democrats won a majority, 64.4 percent of eligible voters turned out. By 2003, the rate was down to 56.8 per cent.
Meisel blamed Canada’s first-past-the-post system for creating disillusion among voters. He called the election process “patently unfair.” If people feel the system is rigged, they’re less likely to participate, he said.
Instead, Meisel presented one option that would push turnout to 100 per cent: compulsory voting.
Australia, where voting is compulsory for citizens over 18, had a registered voter turnout of 93.2 per cent in its 2010 federal election, according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
“I think it’s eminently democratic,” he said. “Everybody is compelled to go vote and I assume in many cases it will encourage people to follow the political process and become more informed.”
Josh Tapper. Staff Reporter
Published 18 minutes ago
Friday, October 07, 2011
Source
A woman casts her ballot at a voting station in Toronto on Thursday. Roughly 4.1 million — or 49.2 per cent of eligible voters — filled out ballots, according to Elections OntarioHere come the excuses.
With voter turnout in Thursday’s provincial election dropping to an all-time low, political scientists, pundits and the public are serving up explanations for why fewer than 50 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.
Of a population over 13 million, roughly 4.1 million — or 49.2 per cent of eligible voters — filled out ballots, according to Elections Ontario.
On Friday, Ontarians took to the Twittersphere, dismayed and disappointment by a province-wide display of apathy. One called the results “shameful.” Another called the turnout “abysmal.”
Laura Stephenson, co-director of the Political Behavior Research Group at the University of Western Ontario, said voters had a hard time engaging with the party leaders or their platforms.
“Not a lot of average Ontarians thought there was anything big at stake,” she said. “It just appears that people don’t feel inspired enough to get out to the polls.”
Stephenson pointed to a 2007 University of British Columbia study that linked low voter turnout to a decline in political competitiveness.
Thursday’s numbers dropped from a previous low set in the 2007 election, when turnout hit 52.1 per cent.
Not even unseasonably warm temperatures across Ontario and polling numbers that predicted a close finish between the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives could move people to the polls.
Fixed election dates — implemented in Ontario by Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals in 2005 — were meant to encourage people to vote by adding predictability to an election season.
“It didn’t turn out that way,” said John Meisel, a professor emeritus of political science at Queen’s University. “This whole thing is still very much a puzzle.”
About 625,000 Ontarians filled out early ballots, a 175,000 increase from 2007. In 2011, Elections Ontario offered voters 10 days of advance polling, 15 days of assistive voting, 23 days to apply to cast a ballot by mail and 28 days to vote by special ballot in person or by mail. In 2007, there were only 13 days of advance polling.
The positive response to advance balloting indicates online voting could make voting more attractive and easier to accomplish, said Peter Loewen, a political science professor at the University of Toronto-Mississauga.
Elections Ontario reportedly has a beta online voting system it wants to try out in the next available by-election.
Loewen, a collaborator with the Canadian Election Study, an election analysis think-tank partly funded by Elections Canada, stressed that the numbers are less a reflection of the 2011 campaign than they are of a larger shift in the way Canadians view voting.
“It’s due to large societal changes, changes in how interested people are in politics, decline in young people’s interests and a marked decline in the belief that voting is a moral obligation,” Loewen said.
Stephenson also speculated that voters suffered from “election overload” after a heated federal election earlier this year. Still, just over 61 per cent of Canadians voted federally in May.
Provincial elections elsewhere in Canada also experienced lower-than-expected voting numbers. In Prince Edward Island, turnout was at 76.4 per cent for Monday’s election, the lowest since 1966. In Manitoba, 57 per cent voted in Tuesday’s election. The Northwest Territories turnout on Monday was dismal at less than 35 per cent.
In Ontario, turnout has been trending downward for at least two decades. In 1990, when Bob Rae’s New Democrats won a majority, 64.4 percent of eligible voters turned out. By 2003, the rate was down to 56.8 per cent.
Meisel blamed Canada’s first-past-the-post system for creating disillusion among voters. He called the election process “patently unfair.” If people feel the system is rigged, they’re less likely to participate, he said.
Instead, Meisel presented one option that would push turnout to 100 per cent: compulsory voting.
Australia, where voting is compulsory for citizens over 18, had a registered voter turnout of 93.2 per cent in its 2010 federal election, according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
“I think it’s eminently democratic,” he said. “Everybody is compelled to go vote and I assume in many cases it will encourage people to follow the political process and become more informed.”
