Too uninformed to vote?

[Alana Flames]

Originally Posted by J pold

I know nothing about politics nor do I really care

However I do vote but simply because so many people had to sacrifice so much to have the right to do it…I basically vote for who ever my grandfather does we seem to value the same things

This, although it seems with good intentions, is another thing that I think really sours elections. So often people vote the way their parents, family, or friends do, without thinking or considering the parties/candidates for themselves.
Often I find people vote for different reason(fiscal, ethical, etc..), and many people and their families/friends do not have the same views on many issues... some are even unaware of the different party's stance on things after voting for them for years 'because their parent's did'.
For instance, many people vote PC in Alberta because they've been in power so long, but simply do not know the conservatives views on abortion, gay rights, etc... Most Albertans I know of have drastically different views on these issues than the conservative party and some of their members, but continue to vote for them anyway.

This all goes back to voters being mis(or un)-informed.

[octothorp]

Democracy is this huge, bizarre and unpredictable system that inevitably produces reliable and predictable results. It's kinda like storm systems... there's an element of chaos theory there. Changes to the demographics (even mass changes, such as suddenly removing the bottom few IQ levels) will produce only short term changes in electoral results, and even fewer changes to governmental policy. If you want to exclude voters based on principle, that's fine. But if you think that such changes are going to make a difference to the actual system, you're really mistaken. Does anyone believe that Australia elects better governments (or for that matter, worse governments) simply because everyone and their dingo actually votes? About the only possible advantage I can think of to limiting votes to those of average or better intelligence is that we'd have less lowest-common-denominator campaigning, but there's such a disconnect between campaign behavior and elected behavior that there's no point in suggesting that a change to the former will cause a change to the latter.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Does anyone believe that Australia elects better governments (or for that matter, worse governments) simply because everyone and their dingo actually votes?

I don't think the dingos are allowed to vote. They really got a bad rap from that baby eating thing.

[redforever]

Quote:
Originally Posted by J pold
I know nothing about politics nor do I really care

However I do vote but simply because so many people had to sacrifice so much to have the right to do it…I basically vote for who ever my grandfather does we seem to value the same things


This, although it seems with good intentions, is another thing that I think really sours elections. So often people vote the way their parents, family, or friends do, without thinking or considering the parties/candidates for themselves.
Often I find people vote for different reason(fiscal, ethical, etc..), and many people and their families/friends do not have the same views on many issues... some are even unaware of the different party's stance on things after voting for them for years 'because their parent's did'.
For instance, many people vote PC in Alberta because they've been in power so long, but simply do not know the conservatives views on abortion, gay rights, etc... Most Albertans I know of have drastically different views on these issues than the conservative party and some of their members, but continue to vote for them anyway.

This all goes back to voters being mis(or un)-informed.

You did not read what J Pold said. He did not say I just vote the same way my family votes. He specifically said, I vote for whoever my grandfather does because we seem to value the same things.

I hear him saying he is voting for values, not for family per se. He might not be interested in the voting process, but he does so out of respect for those who sacrificed so we do have the choice and he votes like his grandfather does because they have the same values. I would not call that misinformed whatsoever and I dont think it sours the voting process.

[icarus]

Most Australians I talk to seem supportive of compulsory voting. They feel that if everyone must vote anyway, then people might as well figure out who they would prefer rather than being strictly apathetic. Interestingly, they also allow campaigning on the day of the election and right outside voting stations. It was great to walk through the throng of campaigners hassling voters outside of the voting station near my place and say "I'm not voting". They would appear nonplussed and then I'd tell them I was not an Australian citizen.

As for people coming in to vote in their wedding dresses on the Saturday of a long weekend, well you can arrange to vote in advance as in all industrialised countries.

[jammies]

If you don't know who to vote for, or you don't like any of your choices, spoil your ballot by writing in, "None of the above". Otherwise you are passively acquiescing to whatever government the rest of the people elect, as opposed to protesting that government.

Further, it is your duty as a citizen to inform yourself about politics, however distasteful or boring it might be. The political parties all send out free pamphlets summarizing their positions, they all have websites, and the newspapers are full of information as well. Spending 10-20 hours every 4 or 5 years is not asking very much of any of us.

That being said, I've grown disillusioned with all the parties, so that last election I voted Green, on the principle that a small group of nutjob environmentalists in Parliament might encourage the other parties to stop pandering to big business and big unions and pay some attention to issues that Joe and Jane Canada actually care about.

[Hakan]

States, in their current form, are too large to be effective democracies.

Because of the size of the electorate, key democratic instruments are often ignored or underutilized. As such, we focus on the easiest and relatively most insignificant democratic activity, voting.

What essentially is that instrisically valuable about voting in a large democracy when a) there is no representation choice for voters to choose between and b) voters themselves are not educated agents of their own needs and to the choices presented to them?

We seem to think that democracy comes around every four years, we take an hour off from work and fulfill our democratic duty for the decade.

Sorry, that doesn`t cut it. Any good functioning democracy not only incorporates voting but also allows for equal control of the government agenda and provides a useful forum for all citizens to debate.

The size of modern democracies make these two crucial democratic processes near impossible. As such we fall back on voting to instill some sense of a democratic flavour in our government.

I`m not saying that the present system is all that bad. I just find it funny alot of the misdirected criticism at the lack of people coming out to vote and the importance of voting. If I were truly a rational agent, I would realize that the odds of my vote making any difference in a national or provincial election are about 3 orders of magnitude smaller than me getting hit by a bus on the way to the polling station. I would never go vote if I was a rational agent.

Essentially, we need to provide better forms of engagement to the government outside of our regularly scheduled voting hour every four years. Only then will we really see a growth in democracy.

[longsuffering]

Our democratic process is broken. Many posters have expressed their frustration at not being able to vote for a Party that represents their views. That might well be true for a majority of Canadians.

That is because by the time it comes to vote in an election in most cases we are asked to chose the lesser of 2 evils.

The Party in power is mostly interested in staying in power and will say and do anything to stay in power. The Opposition is more interested in tearing down and discrediting the government than putting real ideas in front of the electorate. And, as we've seen, 9 times out of 10, if the Opposition Party wins an election, its election promises are tossed out.

By the time we vote in a general election, it's too late for our votes to be meaningful.

It seems to me that if people want to be more involved in the political process and in shaping the direction of the city, the province or the country, they need to get involved at the grass-roots level; at the riding level or in the Party.

We need to shape the policies of the Party we support so that those policies better reflect our vision of what we want for our city or province or country.

We have to hold our politicians to a higher standard. They are elected to represent us. If they don't, whether they are from 'our' Party or not, we need to turf them out.