Politics and your Vote

Time for another election… Once again. You would think by the amount of elections we have had over the past few years Canadians would know how to vote. Now I don’t mean that in the context of who to vote for I simply mean how to physically vote… As in make a check mark on the ballet.

Judging by the last election and the fact that 40% of those who are eligible to vote did not, experts are saying that this coming election is not going to be any better (http://www.montrealgazette.com/Experts+predict+voter+turnout/4551740/story.html) Why is this? You may ask. Well there are numerous opinions regarding this matter. The link posted states that one of the reasons people do not bother with voting is the fact that they feel that politicians make it seem like their vote does not count. The article also makes the argument that people are not voting due to the fact that promises are continually being broken by those whom are elected.

And then in my own personal opinion there are those that just may not understand and who “don’t have the time” to bother voting. A small part of me can’t blame them. The reason I say this is that politics is rather confusing and can take a good deal of time to understand fully. When you put that together with the other reasons previously described it makes for a very unappealing way to spend your time.

There are those that try to solve this problem such as CBC’s vote compass, which has gained attention from over one million people (http://www.vancouversun.com/Vote+Compass+passes+million+mark/4557719/story.html). I was included in those one million people and I participated in finding out what party I should vote for. Although for me, as I assume it is for others, it is not just the party I am voting for but the person as well. The question I ask myself is not only what party to I want to have the most electoral power but who is it that I want to be in charge of running the country that I live in. To add to concerns regarding this there has also been news story’s accusing the vote compass to be bias toward the liberals (http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/03/31/cbcs-vote-compass-accused-of-bias/).

So if we can’t rely on a 5 minute questionnaire to give us answers, if we can’t be bothered to spend countless hours to research who would be the best leader for our country then what are we to do? I’m sorry to disappoint any of you who thought I would have an answer to this question because I do not. I am left with simply doing my own personal best to be an educated citizen. If you decide to do the same then good for you, that makes at least two of us.