10-29-2014, 09:10 AM
Only about a third of those eligible to vote actually cast a ballot in this year's municipal elections. This despite all the attention directed at issues like the LRT, Seiling's lengthy tenure, new mayors for Kitchener and Waterloo, contentious candidates, robocalls, attack ads, etc.
If the LRT wasn't an important enough issue to get people to vote then what would it take? Would an explicit referendum on the LRT have gotten more people to devote 15 minutes out of their "busy" schedules to exercise their franchise?
There was some discussion on another thread about the pros and cons of electronic voting. Would e-voting encourage more people to vote? Would that benefit outweigh the potential for increased voter fraud?
Should we extend eligibility to non-citizen residents?
Or maybe low voter turnout isn't quite the problem many make it out to be. After all presumably those took a few moments to vote also took a few minutes to get acquainted with the issues. If we make voting too easy then perhaps we'll get more people to vote but their choices will be less informed. Is quantity over quality desirable?
If the LRT wasn't an important enough issue to get people to vote then what would it take? Would an explicit referendum on the LRT have gotten more people to devote 15 minutes out of their "busy" schedules to exercise their franchise?
There was some discussion on another thread about the pros and cons of electronic voting. Would e-voting encourage more people to vote? Would that benefit outweigh the potential for increased voter fraud?
Should we extend eligibility to non-citizen residents?
Or maybe low voter turnout isn't quite the problem many make it out to be. After all presumably those took a few moments to vote also took a few minutes to get acquainted with the issues. If we make voting too easy then perhaps we'll get more people to vote but their choices will be less informed. Is quantity over quality desirable?