
October 2024
Should Canada have mandatory voting? Well, that depends on whether we can better inform voters or not. Voting, whether it’s mandatory or not, rarely comes to any good if the voter is clueless to the important issues and the track record of the political candidate.
Arguments have been made that getting to the polls is inconvenient, an argument that falls apart when you consider that there are several days designated for advanced polls ahead of election day. Additionally, what a lot of people apparently don’t know is that you can stop by the Elections Canada office in your riding anytime after the writ is dropped and cast a ballot there.
Two great things about advanced polls and the Elections Canada office are that the line-ups are usually shorter or non-existent.
Another suggestion that I would make is to have a “None of the Above” option on the ballot.
This certainly could be a good change, visually prompting voters that they certainly don’t have to pick one of the listed candidates if they don’t like any of them. However, what a lot of people don’t know is that you can formally decline your ballot. Once the poll official hands you your ballot, you simply tell them that your are declining your ballot and hand it back. Unlike spoiling your ballot or simply not voting at all, when you decline your ballot, it’s recorded as such.
While it’s debatable as to whether mandatory voting would be an effective way of increasing voter participation in elections, what is not debatable is that we need a better informed electorate. Perhaps it should be mandatory to attend a pole, where you can either cast a ballot or formally decline your it.