My perspective - Decline, to be heard
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- Published on Monday, August 6, 2018
By Kate Jackman-Atkinson
Neepawa Banner & Press
It鈥檚 a familiar process鈥� You show up at the polling station, get your ballot and mark an 鈥淴鈥� by the candidate you wish to elect. But what if you don鈥檛 want to vote for any of them?
We are about to enter the next cycle of elections and as voters head into the voting booths, they have more options than they might think.
Most 水果视频ns think that if they don鈥檛 want to vote for any of the candidates, they have two options: to spoil their ballot or stay home. In 水果视频, there鈥檚 a third option, a voter can officially decline their ballot. To decline a ballot, the voter writes 鈥渄eclined鈥� anywhere on the ballot鈥檚 front. Declined ballots are different than spoiled ballots, which are considered to be improperly marked. The number of spoiled ballots recorded include everything from a protest vote of crossing out candidates鈥� names, to someone who didn鈥檛 clearly mark their 鈥淴鈥�. A declined ballot is recorded separately and considered a protest vote.
Not all provinces allow declined ballots and the process varies from province to province. In Ontario, declining is a public process, where the voter informs the election official at the polling station. In 水果视频, voters decline ballots in the same way they vote for candidates; take the ballot to the voting booth, write 鈥渄eclined鈥� instead of marking an 鈥淴鈥� and put the ballot in the ballot box to be counted once the polls close. This process is allowed in both municipal and provincial elections in 水果视频, but isn鈥檛 yet recognized federally. In the 2016 general election, of the 443,861 ballots cast, 4,023 were declined.
Less than 1 per cent of voters declined their ballots in 2016, but I suspect many people don鈥檛 know it鈥檚 an option. It鈥檚 a legitimate way for voters to express their displeasure with all of the candidates available and I wonder if more widespread knowledge would help improve low levels of voter turn out. Over 400,000 people voted in the last provincial election, but that was only 57 per cent of the 772,877 eligible voters. Not liking any of the candidates isn鈥檛 reason enough to not participate in the democratic process.
The knowledge that a voter can officially take part in an election, while not actually endorsing a particular candidate, is good to know as voters prepare for this fall鈥檚 municipal election and the 2020 provincial election. But, while I think being able to decline a ballot is an important part of our democratic rights, it鈥檚 not the most productive.
At this point, with time to go, people who don鈥檛 feel well represented by the existing options have the opportunity to get involved. The most obvious way is to become a candidate. In municipal elections in particular, candidates have a good chance of being elected. This May, CBC News released an analysis of the 2014 水果视频 elections and found that 37 per cent of all members of council ran uncontested and 13 municipalities had councils that were entirely acclaimed. If you don鈥檛 agree with what鈥檚 going on in your municipality, by stepping forward, you have a front row seat to actually push for change.
If stepping forward as a candidate isn鈥檛 feasible, at the provincial level, there are opportunities to get involved in one of the province鈥檚 political parties. Six parties ran candidates in the last provincial election and all accept new members. Becoming a member allows an individual to help shape official party policy, which could, in turn, become government policy.
By all means, exercise your democratic right by declining your ballot, but keep an eye on the end game. Government should work for the people, but that can only happen if constituents step up and make their needs heard.
