Who Is To Blame For Low Voter Turnout Politics Essay

Who Is To Blame For Low selectr Turnout Politics Essay land is the most favorable form of goernment in todays world. Its being said that we every(prenominal) should run short hand in hand in order to urinate decisions on certain policy-making matters and that rump only be made attainable through federation which is voting. Our right to vote is tackled in Canada under portion 3 of Charter of Rights and freedoms2 exclusively many people dont exercise this right. just now if they had not been granted this right, they probably go away feel offended and divested. Regardless of division 3, Canadian elector turnout in recent years has been disappointing and not very reassuring. In past few decades, at that place has been a drowsy f let out in voter turnout in Canada. Turnout has dropped significantly since 1988. In 2000, the turnout reached scummyest lay ever but the record was go on broken in 2008 federal alternatives3which raised eyebrows of both political parties an d further raised questions and concerns whether Canadian democracy and the electoral scheme are effective enough. A number of scholars and political scientists argue that we need to bring in a parvenu effective electoral system in order to increase voter turnout and government and policy makers have withal commenced ways to improve Canadian democracy. This paper examines the voter turnout in past few decades, reasons for decrease in voter turnout, including cynicism and stolidity of voters and various possible reforms in order to make Canadian democracy more effective.Voter turnout can be described as when registered voters vote and when registered voters marked a ballot during elections. It is calculated by dividing number of valid votes by registered electoral districts4. It doesnt count rejected ballots or spoiled ballots. Voter turnout is really important in determining peoples confidence and satisfaction with the government, political parties, and their policies. It is i n any case a good sign of ample democracy. High voter turnout legitimizes the governments authority over people. Voter turnout also reflects peoples interest in political relation and decisions being made by political members on their behalf. It also shows civic literacy among people in regards to political issues. Increase in turnout will decrease inequality among social groups5. But the well-favoured story in news from past two decades is decrease in voter turnout. From 1945 to 1988 Canada has enjoyed high level of voter turnout6. Since 1988 it has decreased significantly, with the lowest mark in 2008 federal elections. It was 75 % in 1988 compared to 64.7% in 2006 and 58 % in 20087. Canada has enjoyed very high voter turnout until 1988. Voter turnout in Canada is low compared to opposite countries such as Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand and United Kingdom8. The questions that arises is wherefore do some people vote and others dont enjoy this privilege. Why is it so lo w in Canada? This question has been a hot topic and central to many political scientists and political research9.Possible CausesThis can be due to cynicism and spiritlessness of people. People are very pessimistic near what government does and at that place is an absence of enthusiasm in people. Recent studies argue that voters felt cynical, disappointed, dissatisfied and there was a sense of disempowerment. People say that government wastes a lot of time and m unrivalledy preferably than making right choices for common good. Its bureaucracy and decisions are made by bureaucrats. They make decisions establish on their own interests. Politicians are dishonest, self-centered, unaccountable, lack integrity and accomplish very little10.Lots of research has been through with(p) on this special topic by various authors, political scientists and senescencies but no specific or static reasons were explained or they are in so far to be revealed. Each study revealed different aspects, different reasons and circumstances for low voter turnout. Lots of those studies revealed variables independent of cynicism and apathy of voters. There are lots of other possible causes for lower voter turnouts. These factors range from personal reasons to age and gender. Voters lack of involvement because of disinterest in elections is one of the main causes of low voter turnout11. They normally think that their votes are meaningless and hence will not make any difference if they dont vote. But people seem to have forgotten that each vote counts and every vote makes a difference. That being said, one of the reasons behind this thinking is that government regularly proposes referendums during elections and these referendums reflects a transmit or proposes a particular constitutional measure. A good example would be Charlottetown Accord, 199212. People who are not involved in voting are unaware of these referendums and hence heist all the changes that would have otherwise been c onsidered as positive changes. Also people are less likely to find the parties, their policies, candidates and appealing leaders13. Every fellowship proposes few legislations and policies that they will implement after they have been choosen. Reason why people dont find these policies appealing is because those policies dont meet their expectations and totally meaningless to them. People also dont find their leaders charismatic. If we look at the census, Liberal party has made majority government most of the times. Liberals had some exceptional leaders such as Sir Wilfrid Laurier, William Lyon Mackenzie King, Lester B. Pearson, Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chretien and these leaders have had charisma. They attracted people towards them because the policies they discussed before elections, implemented most of them14. Current government has been criticized by everyone for not coming up with strategies to urge economic deficit and fighting recession. Action plan was developed but it did not have much preserve15. Another reason that can be considered responsible for low voter turnout is personal or administrative components of voters life16. Voting usually takes place during daytime and weekdays. Most people go to work or school or are unable to vote due to various personal conundrums. Sometimes, their electoral district is too far from work and they are unable to vote. A lot of people are also preoccupied with their families, kids and other family responsibilities after hours and are unable to go down to their constituency and vote. In conclusion, these reasons could be the few basic reasons that led to decline in voter turnout.There are few other controversial reasons which affects voter turnout. Timing is considered one of them. It has been said that people are usually away during summer time on vacation and winter weather conditions can deter participation. It also explains tangle sectional variations. Weather conditions do have an effect on voter turnout17wherea s statistics Canada doesnt declare oneself any such evidence. Also none of the other studies provide any evidence for this argument with further research. Elections have been conducted at various days, various months18. Television and turnout is another controversial reason but there hasnt been much view on this particular topic. It has been said that TV is a revolution in democracy and it gives people clear understanding of trends and issues but it has cut down voter turnout. TV has reduced radios efficiency which is really effective in rural areas19.People use their leisure time in watching TV rather than listening to political agendas on radio. They spend more time in entertainment as opposed to foc utilise on informative aspects20. No other studies provide such evidence. Socio-economic characteristics also affect voter turnout. Turnout is high in advanced countries. Advanced countries are more likely to participate in their countries matter and decisions21. Other factors incl ude changing times and values, religion, long authority of one political party, political disaffection, gender, education, origin etc2223.Lower Youth Participation and sweetenerEven though these factors play significant role in voter turnout but not all political scientists and scholars agree on them. They all seem to agree on two main reasons that have a huge impact on voter turnout in past as well as in recent elections and these reasons are youth electoral engagement and Canadian Electoral System. Less participation of youth or apathy among youth can be a possible reason as discussed by many political scientists24. Politicians and government are concerned about why young people dont participate in elections or if they do, why their turnout is so low as compared to other age groups. The turnout between age group of 18 to 24 is still relatively small. Knowing that fact that it has been decreasing, actual reasons behind this are still foggy and poorly understood. In 2008 federal ele ctions total turnout was 58.8% and lowest turnout was among age group of 18-24 with 37.4%25. Youth in Canada dont involve themselves in Canadian Politics. More research needs to be done to find out what motivates young people. Centre for Information and Research on Canada, at one instance mentionedMany young adults are passing mobile, and so less rooted in their communities and less aware of community needs and issues. For these reasons, they are likely to be less interested in elections. But as they grow old, it generally assumed that they will become more likely to vote26But politicians and government arent that optimistic as young voters are moving away from political relation. This can be determined by looking at enrollment of student in Political Science courses at University level. It has been gradually declining27.Youth must be encouraged to participate in elections. Young voters tendency to vote needs to be understood. Also Canadian leaders or parties should directly addre ss Canadian youth during elections28. Seminars or multimedia campaigns should be conducted for young people to educate them and make them more aware of Canadian political system and how to participate in it. Round table discussions in colleges and universities would be an effective step in civic literacy of youth and parents must discuss politics with their children at home and it will definitely enhance their politics skills. Also students must stay in school and schools should offer political science courses or make them mandatory or compulsory29. New experiments and tests needs to be designed to increase voter turnout not just among youth but overall population30. We need to give profound consideration to Canadian youth and their needs. Much needs be done in order to over come this matter.Electoral System and Possible ReformsAlthough electoral system is not the sole problem for low voter turnout, it has been blamed primarily for citizens apathy and cynicism. Canadas topical elec toral system is based on single member plurality or most commonly known as First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) at federal, provincial and municipal level. In this system, a single individual is elected from a riding to represent citizens of that electoral district. Member who receives most votes becomes Member of Parliament. There has been an ongoing debate on whether Canadian electoral system should be changed. Advocates of this system argue that it produces stable majority government31whereas other political scientists argue that we need new system as it is outdated. There have been lots of problems with current Canadian electoral system including regional polarization, fairness, under- means of women, democratic alteration32. Once again, advocates replied by adage that there is no solution to regionalism as population is sparsely divided in provinces. There is not much that government or political parties can do in order to overcome that unequal distribution of population. Arguments wer e also made on proportional representation electoral system by face that it can create unsought results such as political fragmentation, coalition or minority governments, cabinet instability etc. They further mentioned that theres no guarantee that voter turnout will go up if Canada introduces new electoral system and also its not going to have any effect on representation33. Survey was conducted by Elections Canada to find out whether people are satisfied with current electoral system. There werent too many variations in the results i.e. on one hand people want to give up current electoral system and at the same time try proportional representation system34.In recent years, electoral reform proponents are willing to introduce Proportional Representation in Canada. It is a primary substitute to adept Member Plurality35. According to this system, each member will find his/her share or a seat based on shares of votes they get, regardless of whether they get highest number of votes or lowest number of votes. This will give a fair and equal chance to all the members who are riding for that constituency. Also voters wouldnt think that their votes are meaningless. They get to choose member of their choice. Proportional Representation has two categories List System and Single Transferrable Vote36. Buy as usual Proportional Representation has its critics. Critics argue that this will create many small new parties within the legislature, will produce unstable government by great(p) an opportunity to radical parties to represent themselves and not all constituencies will be covered37.Most democracies in world today use Proportional Representation. Voter turnout level is beyond exception in countries that are practicing proportional representation. It has been widely considered that Proportional Representation will have a huge impact on Canadian political system which includes more representative parliament, reduction of regional polarization, no single party majori ty governments equal representation of all members from various constituencies, Prime Minister will have less power, federal and provincial balance38. Research has also demonstrated that Proportional Representation will lead to high turnout39. Provinces such as British Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick have considered this option and have taken appropriate steps to introduce this system among community members. Ontario also introduced tangled Member Proportional (MMP) System which can also be as another alternative to our current electoral system. Mixed Member Proportionality is mixture of local elected districts member and members elected on provincial level from party list. It gives options to people to choose two members at same time, one from party and second a local candidate. It will create stable parties, equal representation, fair election results, accountability stronger voter participation etc40.Alternative vote can also go hand in hand with Proportional Representation. Un der alternative vote people have to rank the candidates based on their preference and candidate much receive 50% vote and candidates will lower number of votes are automatically dropped out. Hence number of votes goes up and number of candidates goes down41.Electronic Voting is another big alternative that can replace our current electoral system. Surveys conducted have demonstrated that Canadians favor earnings voting, especially youth. All provinces have high approval rate. It has been considered the best method to increase voter turnout, even better than Proportional Representation42. Another surveys conducted by Toronto Star have revealed high approval rate43. It will be a lot easier for people to vote online and very reliable. It will solve the problem of those people who cant make it to their electoral districts on voting day. People can regularly provide feedback through surveys about government policies at federal, provincial and municipal levels. Critics argue that interne t voting will create legal concerns. Research issues can also lead to failure of this internet voting. In addition, auspices issues can come into play and resolving these security issues can put extra burden on the budget as it will cost woolly of money44.Another concern with this is people who are computer illiterate, or people who doesnt have access to computers but the Government is planning to test this system by 2013.Compulsory Voting or Mandatory Voting could be another alternative. In this system, all voters must register and obliged show up on voting day. They still have the choice of not to vote. Fines or other sanctions will be imposed if they dont show up. Many advanced democracies are using mandatory voting such as Australia, Belgium, and Brazil. Voter turnout is very high in these countries. Proponents of this system argue that this will increase voter turnout, election campaigns can focus more on issue rather than teaching people about electoral system. This can also enhance peoples participation in political process other than voting45. Compulsory voting critics argue that people will vote just for the sake of voting. This will not converse their opinions. It is an undemocratic way to vote and it infringes their charter rights under section 3. Majority of Canadians are against this voting system. Penalties can be expensive for people who cannot afford to pay. It also doesnt address questions of low voter turnout and civic literacy among citizens46.Lots of different proposals have been discussed by various political scientists which includes civic literacy among people. People should be taught about politics. It can be done through media. Countries with high civic literacy have high voter turnout47. Other proposals say that Permanent Residents should be allowed to vote as they make good amount of Canadian population. Being Permanent Resident, they cannot do certain things and voting is one of them. Critics argue that this infringe section 3 or charter of rights and freedoms and keeps valuable and experienced people away from participation which further declines their interest in politics48. More opportunities for peoples participation in politics should be developed. Diversity should be increased i.e. women and visible minorities. Government should also keep citizens demands in mind and should work on them. Public opinion surveys should be conducted each year to find out satisfaction in government. Public opinion and overall good should be preferred while making diplomatic decisions.ConclusionVoter turnout has been decreasing. Efforts are being to find out the reasons behind it. Different authors, scholars, political scientists use different opinions and views to explain this trend. We must change low voter turnout trend and electoral reform could be a revolutionary idea. Canadian democracy must be improved by putting more emphasis on citizens needs. People should be encouraged to engage in politics through civic litera cy. Reforms are not yet being implemented but theres a good chance that they will be looked upon and tested in future. As Canadians, its upto us whether we want to see a change. Research is yet being conducted to reveal what underlies beneath, offer practical solutions and overcome this problem.