Tweaking the voting system won’t work

In the United States, high school students are required to take a civic class to learn the basics of how the government works. Americans don’t appear to be any wiser for this education, but the average person on the street at least has a workable knowledge of the system.

So it was something of a surprise when I immigrated to Canada and discovered that this enlightened country doesn’t teach youngsters about government.

The resulting lack of understanding became very evident during the recent constitutional crisis: many people thought Canadians vote, American-style, directly for prime minister, or that the coalition discussion was somehow “anti-democratic.” (It’s one thing to have differing opinions on the coalition; it’s another thing entirely to argue out of ignorance.)

So, I think it’s a good thing that provincial pols (the PCs, at their convention) are discussing requiring a civics course for high schoolers:

Folks from the Sackville-Cobequid constituency association would like Education Minister Judy Streatch to be directed to require students to complete a political science course before high school graduation.

Association president Jessica Alexander said that kind of education would allow more people to make decisions based on factors other than a politicians “hairstyle or handshake.”

“If people know some basic theory, just some basic things about what government should be able or not able to do, then theyd be more equipped to make an informed decision,” she said in a telephone interview Saturday.

The “what government should be able or not able to do…” line rubs me the wrong way— it stinks of an anti-government ideology— but the general idea of civics education is a good one.

Still, it’s anyone’s guess if, as PCs argue, civic education will increase voter turnout. The evidence from the states— where civic education is required but voter turnout is much lower than Canada’s— suggests it won’t.

Another idea to come out of the convention is that electronic voting will somehow increase voter turnout::

Meanwhile, the Bedford-Birch Cove riding association proposed electronic voting, similar to the Halifax Regional Municipality process in the last municipal election, to increase voter participation in provincial elections, especially among younger Nova Scotians.

This argument is, frankly, stupid.

For one, it completely contradicts the reality of what actually happened in the HRM election:

In the race for mayor 100,708 people, or about 38 percent of registered voters, have cast votes this year (there is still a single unreporting table out of 570), compared to 125,035, or about 48 percent of voters, who cast votes in the 2004 mayoral election.

And consider that this year’s mayor race was much more interesting, much closer, than that of four years ago. If anything, voter turnout should have gone up, not down.

We will no doubt be given the explanation that the close proximity of the federal election reduced turnout locally, but the bottom line is that internet voting failed to accomplish what it was billed to do: increase voter turnout. There’s really no simple answer here— people could’ve voted while waiting for porn to download, or while their Facebook status was updating, it was that easy. And still, they didn’t vote.

Can we now put to rest the bullshit argument that voting is just too hard?

Second, the Tories’ two suggestions— civics education and electronic voting— contradict each other. I mean, which is it? Do we want a politically educated electorate that can make wise choices, or do we want Buddy on the barstool, eight drinks in, using the the tavern wireless to cast his vote as he’s waiting for the pony race results to come in?

As I wrote in October:

There are, indeed, reasons why people don’t vote, but it’s not about the difficulty of getting to the polling station. It’s about the disengagement of the average person from the political process. I can throw out a few suggestions for why that’s so—- an understanding on the voter’s part that the process has degraded to a cynical manipulation of empty soundbites, the expectation that no politician will address the real concerns facing the community, for starters. There are no doubt many more. Being too busy to get to the polls isn’t one of them.

This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2009.