Historic Low Voting Turnout a Huge Disappointment - Could've made a Difference!

Maybe the voters were confused. thought they were supposed to vote somewhere else and in Nov?

From the people I talked to who I know didn't vote the consensus seemed to be that this was a huge waste of time and money, and therefore not voting was their way of actually speaking out. (I also know of at least two who voted for the Marxist party in protest.) Given that these friends are all self-employed, it seems to have cost them enough in tax money and they were unwilling to have it cost them another cent of their time. Fair enough.

But mainly many people live in areas that are overwhelmingly tilted to one party (as is mine) and you wonder if your vote actually counts for anything...that said, I did schlepp down and vote myself.

Good post!  Voting in fair and free elections is a privilege that not everyone in this world has.  It is sad to see Canadians forgetting what they have and taking for granted the country they live in.

58% is a relatively high turnout by USA standards.  Has to be a major issue to bring out the voters.  $11 trillion Federal debt wouldn't count as major.  Down 758 on the DOW on any given Wednesday of the final Pres debate wouldn't be major since it obviously isn't anything the Government by any Party has a clue what to do about. 

I think it's completely pathetic. It takes eight seconds to vote.

By the way, it seems questionable to me that people will felony convictions can't vote. Why not? It isn't as though they don't occupy the society too.

The saddest part for me is that rights like this one cost many lives and shed blood.

How easy is to forget about our past some times :(

I have known since a very young age that women fought very hard to get the right to vote; so I admit that from that perspective, I should be ashamed I have not excersised that right which was hard won... As soon as I was legally able to vote, I was very excited and got involved right away. But from the age of 22 until now (8 years), I have stopped participating in the voting system, I have not drawn on any government service either.

Why? I am a young person not excersising my domacratic right. I admit, I know it is true that every small action does affect the greater good or greater ill.

I feel disillusioned. I think all the people that I have to choose from are not people I want running the country and I feel that I can't trust them as far as I can throw them. None of our elected officials are terribly enlightened individuals (yes I am having judgement here); they don't act in the greater good; they act in their own personal good. Why should I trust that someone who will tear his peers apart and is mean to other politicians will act in the greatest good of the country, for the people, environment, health, and so forth?

I feel jaded and I feel that the voting system is a bit of a joke; but I know I make that worse by not participating.

If on the voters card I could check "none of the above" and add the comment: find someone who will act in the greatest good of all to the best of their human ability.

The green party are on the right track but they lack experience and neglect other important subjects.

Anyways, maybe next time I will participate. But I just feel like, what is the point? It's all fucked up anyways.... the corruption is absurd... I feel a rant coming on so I will stop writing my comment...

Thanks to all of you who reponded to this theme!  Appreciate it!  April-Anna, I also appreciated what you had to say about feeling "disillusioned".  You are certainly not alone in that sentiment.  However, I do wonder why this year was a particularly low turnout in comparison to other years?  I thought this was strange considering that people are really concerned about what's happening with our economy, loss of good jobs, foreign interests buying up our mineral and oil rights, growing inflation, etc.!  If nothing else, I thought that our worsening economy would compel a larger segment of the voting public to go and vote for the Leader who they thought would best address our concerns! 

I agree that none of them was perfect for the job ... but there were choices!  Now with the Liberals heading for another "leadership convention" in the very near future, and the Conservatives with another Minority win ... there is no effective opposition whatsoever - and Harper will do whatever he wants and ignore the real needs of the working class!  In fact, I don't even think that "working class" is part of his vocabulary!

Thanks to all of you for your comments on this story!  Isn't it ironic that the caption I chose for this also relates to the Parliamentary Crisis in Canada right now?  In a way, this all could've been avoided if people had given more thought to the last election and went out and voted.  And I don't just mean vote out of fear -- because they were afraid of Dion getting in -- but actually voting for the party that you felt would do the most good for Canada.  It was obvious from the start that no matter what would happen, Dion would have to eventually step aside.