Democracy is a fragile thing.
The combination of apathetic citizens and populist demagogues who use misinformation to manipulate voters can kill democracy very quickly. We’ve seen it happen elsewhere.
In the 2013 B.C. election, voter turnout was just 57.1 per cent and in 10 of the 85 ridings it was below 50 per cent.
In federal elections, turnout is usually slightly better and in municipal elections, it’s normally a lot worse.
That’s why some countries such as Australia make voting mandatory. There are more than 30 countries that have mandatory voting laws, though in about half of these it isn’t enforced.
Voter turnout in Australia is typically somewhere between 90 and 95 per cent.
But if an engaged public is what’s needed to protect our freedom, there’s something a little ironic about taking away a freedom – the right not to vote – in order to achieve this.
In the United States federal election in 2016, voter turnout was only 57.9 per cent, which happens to be very similar to B.C. turnout in the last election.
The results of low turnout and disengaged voters who are easily swayed by demagoguery are all too visible where dictators take power.
It goes without saying that we strongly encourage all our readers to get out and vote.
Elections BC has made the process much easier, so that this time there are six days of advance polling – four still remaining – so you can vote at your convenience and avoid the crowds.
If you do need to vote on May 9 because you aren’t free other days or haven’t made up your mind, you are still entitled to a window of four consecutive hours off work to vote.
That doesn’t mean you get four hours off work. But with the polls opening at 8 a.m. and closing at 8 p.m., you are entitled by law to have the period from 8 a.m. to noon, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. or some other stretch of four consecutive hours off work. Decide with your boss.
Of course it shouldn’t take nearly that long for someone living and working in Osoyoos, but this might be a factor if your job is out of town.
There’s no excuse not to vote.
Political parties often have volunteers to drive people without transportation to the polls. Of course they do this so you’ll vote for their candidate, but how you cast your ballot is entirely up to you in the privacy of the polling booth.
But casting a ballot by itself isn’t really enough to be civically engaged. You don’t need to become a political scientist or a news junkie, but you should have a general sense of who the candidates are and what the parties stand for.
At the Osoyoos Times, we have tried to do our part to give voters a sense of the local candidates. Not all are featured every issue, but going back in recent months, all candidates have been profiled, some multiple times.
Party platforms are too dense to detail in a community newspaper, but all parties make their platforms available online. At best, these are aspirations more than promises, but they give a sense of where parties’ priorities are.
We’ll post links to relevant past stories about the candidates on OsoyoosTimes.com.
B.C. remains a democracy, but it’s not something we should ever take for granted.
The next part is up to you!
