With
online voting set to open tomorrow for the first time ever in Guelph municipal
elections, I’m feeling a mix of excitement, trepidation, and curiosity for
what’s to come. I wonder if voters will encounter technical difficulties, but
more seriously I worry about the risk of voter fraud. However, we can’t let
fear stop us from trying something new, and I’m in favour of keeping up with
the times. I have to trust that the City Clerk’s Office has been diligent in
its implementation of the Internet voting system. It’s also prudent of them to have
it open only in advance of Election Day.
It is
will be interesting to see if online voting actually increases voter turnout. I
hope it will. I do suspect however that having to physically go to a voting
booth has not been the reason for low voter turnout in the past. We are lucky
in Canada that we don’t need to wait in line for three days in order to cast a
ballot. I’m sure sociologists have advanced various hypotheses to explain low voter
turnout. I think it’s due to apathy, not the “inconvenience” of voting. And I wouldn’t be surprised if a big factor
is our first-past-the-post electoral system: it’s just not an adequate system
when you have more than two candidates. Not until we introduce a different
electoral system (such as preferential voting, where a voter gets to rank
candidates in their order of preference), will we begin to redress voter apathy
and mitigate strategic voting.
In
Guelph, we get to vote for two Councillors per ward, which is a good alternative
to the first-past-the-post system, at least as far at the Ward level is
concerned. However, that is not the case for the mayoral level. Perceived
front-runners get a disproportionate amount of attention, and in this election
in particular, strategic voting will be widespread I’m sure.
The
outgoing City of Toronto Council had asked the province to allow preferential
voting in their municipal elections. Surprised? So was I. Unfortunately, the
Bill died with the spring provincial election. But it got me thinking: wouldn’t
it be great if Guelph developed its own alternative to the first-past-the-post
system for electing our mayor? After all, we can’t let fear stop us from trying
something new.
-also published today on the Guelph Mercury blog at
