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POLITICS AS USUAL: Voting Quorum


By Alison Collins-Mrakas

There were four federal ridings at stake last week. A number of resignations had resulted in four vacancies at the federal level. The Ontario vacancies were filled by Liberal candidates and the Alberta vacancies were filled by Conservatives.
While some pundits focused on what the results meant to the various parties, others focused on the election itself.
By-elections are notorious for low turnouts. People just do not get jazzed up about by-elections. However, even by the low bar set for such electoral contests, this one was very very low. As a result, there is a more fervent call for some kind of revamp of the electoral process. Even the most casual observer of politics has got to be appalled at the voter turnouts in Alberta in particular – less than 15 percent.
That means that 85% of the riding's electoral population decided that they simply couldn't be bothered to care who represented them in Ottawa.
We don't have much to crow about in Ontario either. Trinity Spadina had a turnout of just 21 percent, while the Scarborough-Agincourt riding was a bit higher at 27 per cent. Not even a quarter of the eligible voters bothered to show up.
That is, in a word, shocking.
I know the extremely low voter turnout was a result of a confluence of factors, not the least of which was the fact that the election was held on the Monday of an extended long weekend, but not everyone was on vacation.
So how does one explain a 15% turnout? How is that good for democracy? Worse still, what do you do about it?
I read a letter in the Globe by someone who had a rather brilliant suggestion: a voter quorum. While he didn't get into the particulars, his suggestion was concise: an election should not be considered valid if the turnout does not meet a specified target – or quorum.
That makes infinite sense to me.
Leaving aside the “how” of voter quorum, I think the why of voter quorum warrants exploration.
You cannot have a meeting without quorum. Why? Because the decisions made at the meeting will not be considered valid if the requisite number of members are not present to ratify a decision.
If you didn't have quorum, then decisions could be made by a very few people – or even one person. If that's the case, we might as well go back to the days of benign despots and do away with the legislature all together.
Voting is one of the most important decisions we make as citizens. Shouldn't we ensure that the method by which that decision is made is fair – or at least makes sense?
Think of it this way: if the Legislature had only 20% of its members present – or around 62 based on current ridings – and of those present 50 percent plus
1 decided to bring back the death penalty, would you accept that decision?
Why would we accept the decision to elect a representative based on a majority of only 20 percent of voters?
We shouldn't.
We, as a country, believe in the principle of majority decision making. We believe in a first-past-the-post voting system – where the candidate with the majority of votes earned, wins.
For the system to function properly, we need the “majority” to be defined.
Is it 50 plus 1 of those voters that bother to show up, or is it 50 plus 1 of the electorate? Or is it some sort of amalgam of both? Should there be a threshold voter turnout required in order for an election result to be considered valid? I say yes.
I think that this is a very important democratic issue that needs to be discussed and resolved. We cannot continue on as things are with false majorities due to extreme voter apathy.
Scarlet O'Hara may “think about that tomorrow”, but I don't think we have that luxury.
Until next week, stay informed, stay involved because, this is – after all – Our Town.
Post date: 2014-07-09 23:18:54
Post date GMT: 2014-07-10 03:18:54
Post modified date: 2014-07-17 01:05:45
Post modified date GMT: 2014-07-17 05:05:45
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