David Erland goes to the polls on election day, but does not go behind the screen to drop the ballot. When pollsters handed him the ballot, he returned it immediately, choosing to decline his vote.
This is a valid version of the Ontario election (22,684 voters did it in 2018), although it often confuses polling officials by having to explain exactly what they are doing. This is his way of radiating frustration with our electoral system.
“I realized that as I continued to use our existing electoral system to vote, I gave my tacit approval to that system,” said Erland, who lives in Port Hope, 100 kilometers east of Toronto.
Erland calls himself a “desirable” voter. He insists that no problem or political promise will prompt him to vote for a party until he sees a change in our electoral system. He believes his vote does not matter and the system causes a lack of representation. This is just one of the reasons why people are not voting, as it was emphasized before the provincial elections on June 2.
More than 10.2 million Ontario residents were eligible to vote in the last election in 2018, but only 56.67% had it (about 5.8 million voters). The highest turnout was by chance in Erland’s own constituency, Northumberland-Peterborough South, at 64.6 per cent.
David Erland has deliberately not voted in the traditional way for about a decade, choosing to reject his ballot in order to protest the current Ontario electoral system. “I felt that this was a case in which I could at least register my feelings about it by refusing to vote,” said the Port Hope resident. (Submitted by David Erland)
“It’s always hard. Do you know why someone doesn’t vote? Usually people who don’t vote don’t respond to polls either,” joked Lydia Millan, a professor of political science at Windsor University.
Windsor West Constituency had the lowest turnout in the province in 2018 – 43.3 percent. The neighboring Windsor-Tecumseh constituency is also the lowest in Ontario, as are the constituencies of Brampton, Mississauga, Toronto’s northwest pockets (Humber River-Black Creek, York-South Weston) and northern Ontario (Kiweti).
Miljan points to factors such as lower incomes, a younger population and an immigrant population, which she said were linked to lower turnout.
The CBC called to ask people why they were not voting. Repeated answers include lack of information, lack of time, too young, outside the country on election day, dislike of candidates or even dislike of politics in general (Miljan thinks this is fair criticism – she doesn’t like sports!)
Millan also said turnout depended on whether people were excited about candidates or campaigns or whether it was a change in the election, as Ontario saw in 2018, when voters displaced Kathleen Winn’s Liberals – leading to the highest turnout. for almost two decades.
Milan is bored with the 2022 campaign so far and does not expect change, so he expects lower turnout this time.
Extended voting
Election Ontario hopes to deal with this. More advanced election days have been added, now a total of 10, compared to five during the last election. He visits campuses to encourage students to vote and highlights his new app and online mail voting app.
The organization also liaises with more than 2,500 community organizations throughout the province, in places such as cultural centers, friendship centers, libraries and places of worship. The hope is specifically to target new Canadians and voters for the first time.
“Elections Ontario remains committed to removing barriers to voting for all Ontario residents and ensures that anyone who wants to vote can do so,” Elections Ontario wrote in an email.
Some people have taken to encouraging voting.
Tanya Cameron is trying to increase turnout among the first nations. She lives just outside Kenora, in northwestern Ontario, bordering the Kiiwetinoong constituency, which has a majority indigenous population. The district is the second lowest voter turnout in the province in 2018 – 45.8 percent.
So Cameron, a member of the Niisachevan Anishinaabe nation north of Kenora, is trying to engage First Nations voters by making sure people know how to vote and register, and explaining provincial issues that matter.
She urged indigenous leaders and leaders not to host election day meetings, which could alienate voters from communities and prevent them from voting.
Tanya Cameron, pictured in 2015 with Wallace McKay, is a self-proclaimed “activist for the vote of the first nations.” It is trying to increase turnout among First Nations people, especially in the Kiiwetinoong constituency, which had the second lowest turnout during the 2018 Ontario elections (Submitted by Tanya Cameron)
Cameron also wants to ensure that the voting problems facing remote first nations in northwestern Ontario during the federal election last fall will not recur. There were problems with ballot papers and the lack of polling stations in some local communities. Elections Canada apologized in November.
Elections Ontario says there are indigenous consultants who are currently visiting communities, talking about registration tools and working with group leaders and councils.
Turning to the vote of the first nations
Cameron’s job can be complicated.
“There are many people who say that this is not my government. This is not my system. And I hear that it is not. It is a government system imposed on the people of the first nations, “she said. “You do not accept that you are part of this colonial system. However, you choose who will sit opposite you at the negotiating table.”
She wants the voters of the First Nations to think about who could be the better partner in the treaty and who is making the most breakthroughs to achieve reconciliation.
LISTEN | Ontario Morning looks at turnout and where it differs in the countryside:
Ontario Morning by CBC Radio7: 57 Millions do not vote in the Ontario election. This is how some cope with low voter turnout
The last Ontario election in 2018 had the highest turnout in nearly two decades, with about 57% of eligible voters voting. However, this means that millions did not vote. Haydn Waters has learned that some are trying to change that before the June 2 election.
“I see that the people of the first nations in these northern rides are not using their political muscles,” she said.
Cameron cites the 2015 federal election, when the turnout of reserve voters skyrocketed, something she would like to see repeated.
“I am a strong advocate of exercising your right to vote,” she said. “I just love politics. I really love politics.”
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