The last editorial in print from us before voting day. This is usually when we cajole, guilt, nag, and exhort Burnaby citizens to get off their couches and do the right thing. Spend 15 minutes and exercise your democratic right - no, make that responsibility - and cast your ballot.
But after 30 years of pounding on our little podium and seeing voter participation continue to dwindle, we're not even going to bother this time around. We will, however, urge you to read an interesting article on voter apathy on page 13 of today's paper.
In that article an SFU professor paints a rather depressing picture of why voters can't be bothered to vote. He argues that voters lose interest when decisions are too complicated. He calls it 'free-riding.' Voters don't want to actually do some homework and find out which candidate or party is right on pipelines, or homelessness, or health care, or - well, you name it. They rely on someone else to lead them. He compares it to folks who "only buy best sellers, order the house wine or sort their purchases on Amazon by most popular." He describes the behaviour as "herding." As he also notes, folks aren't even ashamed of saying that someone else probably has done their homework, so it's better to rely on their vote than muddying the whole process up with their own uninformed one.
How many potential voters actually read the full text of political party platforms?
Very few, we suspect.
Political parties, of course, are clearly aware of this behaviour in the electorate. In fact, they count on it. They count on most folks not wanting to think for themselves or do any heavy lifting.
Hence the simpleton campaign messages repeated over and over and the reliance on appealing to the voters' most selfish instincts. (Including the ubiquitous promise to loosen up beer sales.) It's all rather appalling. Not only are elections getting dumbed down, but voters appear to appreciate the strategy.
The problem is that the house wine may be infinitely better than the elected representative chosen by the finite few who bother to actually cast their votes.
