Is Voting an Exercise in Power

With low voter turnout becoming the new norm it may be time to take back the power of the vote. 

A few years back I decided on a new way to engage in the electoral process.  I would write to each of the candidates with three questions.  Two would be the same for all candidates and one would be unique for each candidate.  In the letter I told them that I would base my voting choice on their responses. 

I continue to do this each election – although now I e-mail each candidate.  In all the years I have done this I have never gotten more than one response per election. 

This leaves me with a challenging decision; do I intentionally spoil my ballot?  This is often my option, however, it does not help the candidates understand why that ballot is spoiled.  So often I will write on the ballot ‘none answered my questions, therefore they are all unqualified to receive my vote’ – this is illegal but it does communicate to the party scrutineers my displeasure.  And sometimes I hold my nose and vote for a candidate even though they have not responded to my questions.  This is usually actually a vote against another candidate as much as it is a vote for the one selected. 

In each election going forward I will do everything in my power to assure we have a minority government, as this result is the only event that makes parties take the time to think and maybe even begin to listen.  They are not elected to serve their party leader, nor are they elected to serve the party they are a member of.  They are  elected to serve the people, all the people in their riding. 

Remember we do not elect governments or cabinet ministers, opposition critics.  We elect representatives who have the honour of serving us for their term.  Their job is to work together to make our province and country a better place for all.  No matter what they may want, they work for us and should be representing everyone, even those who didn’t vote for them or didn’t vote at all. 

They need to remember they are civil servants.  Civility needs to be seen and heard in all they do, especially in the halls of power.  I hope the remember an election is a drawn out job interview and when they are elected they are on probation until the next vote.