Why bother voting in the County?
Administrator | Jan 02, 2012 | Comments 1
In Prince Edward County the 80.78% of voters who voted “yes” to the referendum question in the 2010 election are now wondering why they even bother to vote.
Why should we bother voting in 2014?
Eight of our sixteen councillors have provided the answer. By repeatedly refusing to follow the clear will of the voting electorate on the referendum question, the self-serving eight who do not respect democracy have shown that we need to restore democracy in The County by removing them from office at the next election.
If we fail to do this, even more of us will not bother to vote. And if we fail to do this, the turnout at the 2018 polls will be much lower than the meagre 47.38% who bothered to vote in 2010.
Is democracy not precious in The County?
-Jim McPherson, Milford
Filed Under: Letters and Opinion
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Not even the issue of Council size was enough motivation to get people to vote. 52.62% chose not to get in their cars and drive to a polling station or fire up their computers to vote on line.
Of those who did, 19.22% did not support the referendum. So a total of 71.84% did not support the motion.
The problem with democracy is that it’s often the number who don’t bother to vote that moves a government in one direction as opposed to another. This is a classic case.
Legally, Council is not required to act on the referendum. Morally, and perhaps politically, they certainly should listen to the minority who do view democracy as “precious”. Those who voted have to count more than those who could not be bothered to do so. We’re owed that much since we who did make the effort to vote put the councillors in their seats.