There was one way in which the municipal elections were particularly disappointing, and that’s the number of people who actually voted.
In North Cowichan, just 34 per cent of voters came to the polls. In Duncan it was 35 per cent, and in the Town of Lake Cowichan 49 per cent of voters cast a ballot. All of these areas featured tight mayoral races, with North Cowichan decided by just 10 votes. In the Cowichan Valley Regional District’s electoral areas, voter tallies ranged from a low of 21 per cent in Shawnigan Lake to a high of 42 per cent in Youbou/Meade Creek. And even if you didn’t care enough about who’s going to form government, or school board, what about the two referendums that trigger two new taxes?
What more does it take to inspire people to get out to vote? Surely at least one of those things, at least one single candidate prompted enough passion to take the very few minutes it would take to mark a ballot? Not having the time is not a valid excuse. There were two advance voting days and voting day itself. And if you couldn’t get it together to physically go to a poll there was always a mail-in ballot opportunity. Just the fact that it’s the public’s chance to steer the future of the community should be enough, one would think, and yet, vote after vote, it isn’t.
It’s a troubling trend. We are so fortunate in this country to be allowed to vote, unmolested. We take this privilege for granted. When we do that, we are basically saying we don’t care about our future, and someone else is welcome to determine it for us. There are all kinds of people who would be happy to do just that, impose their will on the populace. Not voting opens the door for those who would argue that we don’t need to have votes at all. “See,” they say, “people don’t care anyway.” It’s an invitation to tyranny.
Having a democracy requires us to participate. That is the (very small) price we pay.
So if you didn’t vote in this election, ask yourself why. If the answer isn’t compelling, resolve now to get out and vote next time.