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LETTER: It may be time to put financial price on right to vote

'It is gratifying to see how many people, despite their ailments, came out to vote, but it pains me that only 43% of Ontarians exercised their right to vote in this election (a record low),' reader says
Elections Ontario vote sign
File photo

BradfordToday received the following Letter to the Editor frrom poll worker Albert Wierenga in regards to low voter turnout this Provicial Election: 

The June 2, 2022 Provincial election was my sixth working as one of the many poll workers. This time my official title was Tabulator Deputy Returning Officer, TDRO. A huge title for someone who merely fed the votes into the computer.

I work election days, minimally 14 hours straight, because the government pays fantastically high wages! Of course, I’m kidding. Most poll workers get paid the base hourly rate of $15/hour. Many of us work the polls to maintain the democratic system and to honour the rights to vote, and for social reasons. Being part of an election crew at a poll can be a fun experience.

In many countries people do not have the right to vote or they can vote in rigged elections. In some countries like currently the Ukraine, they are fighting to maintain their democratic rights after they were brutally invaded by a country that maintains a veneer of being a democracy but is, for all intents and purposes, a dictatorship.

It is gratifying to see how many people, despite their ailments, came out to vote, but it pains me that only 43 per cent of Ontarians exercised their right to vote in this election (a record low). By not voting, election avoiders are saying, “Go ahead, I’ll accept whatever comes”.

There must be a better way. With the huge financial costs of running an election, perhaps it is time that we put a financial price on our right to vote. That price could either be in a punitive form, eg: a fee for not voting or in a reward form, eg: a deduction against one’s income to lower one’s taxes.

In our Ontario election the popular vote numbers were:

PC 1,912,651 = 40.8 per cent

NDP 1,111,318 = 23.7 per cent

Liberal 1,117,051 = 23.8 per cent

Green 279,174 = 6.0 per cent, and some splinter results.

A quick look at those numbers and it shows that more than 50 per cent voted against major highways in protected areas. Will we have a government that honours their wish?

What these numbers demonstrate, is that for the next four years Ontario might well experience the ‘tyranny of a minority’. And that clearly is not democratic. Therefore, this ‘first past the post’ electoral system is unfair (Australia thought so and changed it). It is high time that we change our current system to representation in the Legislature as determined by total popular vote for parties and their platforms. To avoid having too many splinter parties, we could (like other countries do) set a ceiling, at say five per cent of the popular vote, before seats are assigned. We currently already have something similar for official party status in the Ontario Legislature.

If Mr. Ford is fair-minded and democratic, he, in conjunction with the other parties, will have four years to design a better electoral system. He is the man to accomplish this. After all did he not promote himself and his party by saying, “We’d get ‘er done!”

I will be waiting and hope to work in a fairer representative election in 2026.

Albert Wierenga,
Bradford, Ont.