I voted—and had I known you weren’t going to bother, I would’ve done it for you, too

Where Were You?

I voted, and I’ve got the sticker to prove it. But apparently—and somewhat tragically—that puts me in the minority of voters this past election, which should go down in history as “The Year Voting Died.” Maybe if Elections BC had invested in some really cool merchandise—big foam fingers, say, or little twirly NHL-style towels that we could’ve whipped around over our heads whenever one of our party favourites won a riding—that would’ve helped bring out the voters. Not likely, but a guy can dream.

With a shocking 48 percent turnout—that’s only 1.5 million of 3.2 million eligible (and mostly registered) voters—the majority of B.C. residents should simply be ashamed of themselves . . . and absolutely keep their damn mouths shut for the next four years as the Campbell Liberals use their “majority” threepeat as a licence to basically do whatever the hell they want. Not happy when the inevitable announcements come out about more cuts to health care, children’s care, senior’s care, social work, highways, education, arts or the environment? Tough beans. You had your chance to make a difference and chose to stay home, do laundry, wash the gerbil, drown your sorrows or watch American Idol instead.

That 48 percent puts us down seven percent from the 2001 election and a solid 10 percent less than the 2005 election. Translate that into hard numbers and it means the “majority” the Liberals will be crowing about for the next four years is actually only about 22 percent of voters. Yep, 22 percent of the province voted for Campbell and company . . . and they won. But who says we need electoral reform? (Uh, actually, Gordon Campbell’s own riding says we need it—Vancouver/Point Grey residents voted 52.23 percent in favour of the STV referendum. Message for you Mr. Premier: Even your own people believe it’s time for a change.)

There’s already been endless post mortems of what went wrong—or right, depending on your viewpoint—with this election, but one thing is abundantly clear: nobody knows how to turn off the electorate like B.C.’s party leaders. In this post-Obama era, when personal bankruptcies and unemployment are going through the roof, two things that were not part of any candidates election messaging were the ideas of hope and change. Policies? Carbon tax? Fear? Whining? Spin? You bet. Any sense of light at the end of the tunnel? Sorry, it’s been switched off due to lack of interest.

Listening between the lines of the election night victory/concession speeches, it seems clear that both parties were already laying the groundwork for the inevitable changes to come at the top. Campbell was busy positioning himself as the caring grandfather, giving himself an obvious out after he carries the Olympics to a pyrrhic victory—and before the bill comes in—and the many references to Carole James’ “health” were a blatantly kind option to make way for another opposition leader.

Before the next election rolls around in 2013, B.C. voters had better start asking themselves some hard questions—like, is democracy even an option here anymore? Maybe we should adopt the Australian example and make voting a legal requirement; then, those who choose not to participate can quite literally pay for it, as opposed to the rest of us. As for the idea of voting online, I say phooey. Not only would it open the results to a whole new level of fraud potential—hello, Bush?—but it would scotch the legitimate sense of community you’ll find at any election station in the province.

Despite the dismal statistics, I’m not prepared to give up on democracy just yet. Until telepathy becomes commonplace (“I sense you’re the right candidate for the job”), it’s still the best bet we’ve got. M