Instead of resolving to fix some of ourselves at New Year’s, what if we resolve to fix some of our political institutions? Voter turnout, voter engagement and voter eligibility are inadequate. Our legislatures are mock theatres of questions without answers. No one can claim today that our political discourse is improving.
In an ideal world, what would be my wish list of what to seek? Voter turnout this century in our federal, provincial and particularly in our municipal elections has fluctuated but hovered at unhealthy levels: a decline to 62.6 per cent federally in 2021, a rebound (but below historic levels) to 58.3 per cent provincially in 2024, and turnouts of 40 per cent in Vancouver and 38 per cent in Toronto for municipal races in 2022.
Several countries have successfully introduced mandatory voting to spur participation, among them Argentina in 1912, Australia in 1924, Belgium in 1893, Brazil in 1932, Singapore in 1959 and Peru in 1931. In these countries, there are disincentives not to vote, and turnout has been upwards of 80 and 90 per cent. We have made it very easy these days to vote, with more polling stations and advanced voting, and it ought not to be long before we have gotten past our apprehensions to use an acceptable technology to vote digitally.
Low voter turnout disproportionately silences youth, the poor and the marginalized. If we are serious about political participation, it makes sense to confer responsibility on all of us. It is incongruent that 14-.