OSOYOOS TIMES-May 27, 2009

When a group of Australians who were in town last week as part of a Rotary Group Study Exchange learned about the voter turnout during the May 12 provincial election, they expressed shock.
Having only 52 per cent of registered voters in B.C. come out to the polls on Election Day was a concept they could barely comprehend because their home country has had compulsory voting in place since 1924.
If you don’t vote there, you get fined.
In 2007, 95.2 per cent of Australian voters cast a ballot during the national election and since 1946 there was only one election where voter turnout was below 80 per cent.
Imagine how different British Columbia’s political map would look if we had voter turnouts here of more than 90 per cent.
Right now there are more than 30 countries where compulsory voting is in effect at some level.
There are arguments for and against the concept and no doubt as much division over such an idea would arise here as it did for the single-transferable vote (STV) system during the provincial election.
But with voter participation in the province dropping every election, due to apathy more than anything else, wouldn’t it be nice to have a way to elect a government that represents almost all of us, instead of just the dutiful who head to the polls every Election Day?
During and after every election there is a flood of reasons offered through the media as to why people don’t vote but there are very few solutions suggested.
Maybe hitting people in the wallet is the only way to prod the masses to get out the door and become a player in this province’s future.