As I have previously noted, voter turnout in the last provincial election was something less than stellar. Also something less than 60%. I hope we can do better this time, as a province, because if we do we can actually do better as a province. The province wide voter turnout last time around was 59.89%, but turnout in the individual ridings varied widely. They ranged from an abysmal 48.84% in Halifax Clayton Park to an impressive and encouraging 82.45% in the riding of Clare. That’s quite a range.
My hope, of course, is that Nova Scotians in general take their cue from the people of Clare and show up at polling stations in droves. I voted at an advance poll on Friday morning and, although lineups often frustrate me, I have to say I was pleased to find one when I got there. I was more than happy to wait my turn to mark an X in the circle next to the name of my chosen candidate. (Who happened to be me.) Last week, I helped write and create a short video that is clearly pro-Green, but mostly pro-voting. It’s a spoof of those ads for Viagra and such, offering a cure for Electoral Dysfunction. You should watch it – it’s kind of funny, if I do say so myself. I hope it might get you to vote, if you don’t already, but at least it will probably get you a chuckle. We could all use chuckles almost as much as we could use credible and meaningful representation.
The election campaign is pretty much over for us now. Voting day is on Tuesday, and on Tuesday night I will be gathered with a small group of close friends to watch the results come in – possibly over a beer or two. I am interested, of course, in finding out whether I got my 500 votes or not. I am also interested in whether the great Orange revolution is going to be all the N-Dippers hope it will. I share their hope (because who doesn’t want good government, no matter what colour it comes in?) but, based on Mr. Dexter’s right-of-centre campaign, I rather think it will be more of the same-old same-old. My greatest interest in election night, though, is always in watching voter turnout.
I have a keen passion for democratic reform – I want fixed election dates, proportional representation, a lower voting age, more opportunities and more locations for actually casting ballots. I want legislated transparency in government. I want political parties to be unable to accept donations from corporations, unions, organizations of any kind really – including my beloved NGOs that comprise civil society. I want freedom of information, and not the kind we currently have that makes us pay for access and then makes us wait more than half a year to find what we were looking for. I want the need to toe a party line to be abolished, so all members can vote according to their conscience and according to their constituents’ needs. I want voters to vote, and believe that if they do so en masse, then we can eventually get the democratic reform we so badly need. And so badly deserve.
It’s been so long since I had one…but I want a satisfactory election and I know there’s a cure.
So vote.
