Inspiring people to vote is vital to our democracy. It makes me mad that we are making people feel they’re not good enough to vote, and sad that people see themselves this way. Opinion by JoAnnRobertsHFX
I’m having a hard week. I want to scream, “What’s wrong with you? Why didn’t you vote? Doesn’t democracy matter?”
It was the eve of the election, so I asked if she planned to vote. She said no. I said, “Why not? The race is close in this riding. Your vote will make a difference.” What she said next made me want to cry. In my opinion, it’s coming from all the talk about strategic voting and watching commentators slice and dice polling numbers. I’ve been a pundit, so I am guilty of doing this very thing. It makes me mad that we are making people feel they’re not good enough to vote, and sad that she sees herself this way.
The very principles that make our democracy function are washing away. People in other parts of the world are dying for the right to vote and we are willingly abdicating our responsibility. Democracy isn’t working when, as happened in Ontario last week, a government ends up with 100 per cent of the power when it received just 18 per cent of the eligible vote.