Voter turnout is a concern across Canada, although it's worst of all at the local level.
Our goal at The Citizen is for 50 per cent or more of eligible voters to turn out Nov. 15 to pick a new mayor and city council, a new school board and to cast a ballot in the fluoride referendum. That would be an incredible improvement from the 28.5 per cent who voted in the 2011 civic election.
The participation rate in the riding of Cariboo-Prince George for the 2011 federal election was 58 per cent, more than double the voter engagement in the local election. Meanwhile, 54 per cent of eligible voters visited a polling station in the Prince George-Peace River riding. Those are incredibly high numbers, considering that the two area federal ridings are among the safest Conservative ridings outside of Alberta.
In other words, more than half of the voters came out for what was a done deal anyway.
Yet the Prince George municipal election in 2011 featured a hotly contested battle between the beleagured sitting mayor Dan Rogers and a one-term city councillor promising big changes and a pro-business ethic in Shari Green. The candidates for council were equally strong, with most of the incumbents running, as well as former school board chair Lyn Hall, engineer Albert Koehler and union activist Frank Everitt all in the mix (and all getting elected).
So what is it about local elections that doesn't capture the interest of voters?
For starters, federal elections attract not just the attention of the local news media, but also the major provincial and national media as well. Peter Mansbridge has nothing to report about the mayoral race in Prince George but he and the rest of the CBC will have plenty to talk about during the federal campaign. The leaders debates are televised live nationally but the all-candidates forums in Prince George might be streamed online in real time at best.
Along with the media attention, electing a federal government is seen as more important than electing a mayor and city council, even though voters see their local government at work far more often than what's decided in distant Ottawa. As one pundit put it, the mayor works on potholes and parking permits, the prime minister has the power to declare war on foreign countries and work with the United States on global surveillance and spying.
Along with that is the notion that while we don't get to directly vote for who will be prime minister, we're taking part in a national exercise with our fellow Canadians from coast to coast to coast. It's exciting to be part of something that big. Unless you live in Toronto and Rob Ford is on the ballot, a civic election just doesn't have the same snap, crackle and pop behind it.
As well, there are political parties in play at both the federal and provincial level that hustle for support and contact voters directly, even offering rides to the polling stations. While that exists at the local level, nowhere near the money or organization goes into a local election, compared to a federal contest.
Lastly, political parties help make the choice easier, by rolling out simple to understand campaign platforms. Without political parties at the local level (although they are in play in Vancouver), voters have to go the extra mile and learn about each of the candidates and their views. For many, that's way too much work so it's easier to get in some early Christmas shopping on a Saturday in November than it is to head down to a polling station.
Still, if the federal turnout shows anything, it's that voter apathy is selective. The challenge is to overcome the local differences and get voters to turn out in the same numbers for municipal elections as they do for the federal contests.
That'd be a start.
