Low voter turnout 'worrisome trend', says returning officer

And like Jean Pierre Kingsley, chief electoral officer for Elections Canada, she is trying to do whatever she can to increase interest in voting among young people in the June 28 election.

Only 60.7 per cent of eligible voters in this riding voted in the last federal election in November 2000. "In my first election as returning officer in 1988, we had a turnout of 75 per cent, Amy says. "This has been a very worrisome trend."

The overall voter turnout for the 2000 election was 61.2 per cent of eligible voters, the lowest national voter turnout since Confederation. The voter turnout in the 1997 election at 67.7 per cent was the lowest since the 1925 national election.

Particularly disturbing is the drop in the youth vote, according to Kingsley. A research study commissioned by Elections Canada revealed about 25 per cent of those in the 18-24 age group reported voting in the 2000 election.

"We noticed this in Peterborough," Amy says. "Our central poll supervisors were commenting on the dearth of people under 30 who came into the polling stations."

The main reasons for the lack of enthusiasm, according to the researchers included

	low levels of political interest and knowledge
	a declining sense that voting is a civic duty
	personal factors (e.g. – too busy)
	lack of contact with political parties and candidates

"We try to do whatever we can to encourage people to vote," Amy says. "We had a meeting in April with local people from all political parties and stressed the importance of getting people out to vote."

Since the 2000 election, Elections Canada has launched several initiatives to spark interest in voting among young people, Amy says. "And we have made registration to vote as easy as we possibly can with special ballots, advance polls and revisions to the voters’ list until day 22 of the campaign."

A person can still register to vote on Election Day and the polls are now open from 9 a.m. until 9:30 p.m.

Kingsley describes the trend as a "threat to democratic government." For this election, he has sent letters to 1.1 million Canadians who turned 18 since the 2000 election reminding them of their right to vote and including registration forms for 300,000 of them not yet registered.

Election advertising is particularly sensitive to young people and Elections Canada is targeting neighbourhoods with younger people for special voter registration drives. There is a Young Voters website, posters and Elections Canada has hosted a national forum, symposiums on youth voting.

Because the election is being held after most university and college students have left for the summer, the number of eligible voters in Peterborough Riding will take a considerable dip, Amy says.

Amy does see one bright sign for this year’s election. "There does seem to be a lot of interest this time," she says. "That could help to improve the voter turnout."

Send this page to a friend

Articles may be reprinted with permission. Contact us at peaceful@axiomnews.ca or 1-800-294-0051