"To Vote or Not to Vote?"

Oct 19 2008 Bothwell  

Message: “A Tax ‘Trap' for Jesus…And?”

Matthew 22:15-22

Last Week’s Election Turnout

This past Wednesday an article appeared in The Niagara Falls Review by Corey Larocque. It was titled:

Voter turnout part of worldwide slide, Brock professor says - Citizens in democracies taking right to vote for granted, Siegel says

Larocque began his article like this: If you voted Tuesday, there’s a good chance your neighbour didn’t. ..He noted: Across Canada, turnout was 59.1 per cent – the lowest turnout rate of any federal election in the country’s history...Since Canadian Confederation in 1867, the percentage of voters who cast ballots typically runs in the high-60s and low-70s.

The high water mark was 79.4 per cent in 1958, the election that saw Progressive Conservative Prime Minister John Diefenbaker win the biggest majority government in Canadian history to that point.

Since 1993, turnout for federal elections has consistently been below 70 per cent…

Tuesday was the first time it dropped below 60 per cent.[1]

To Vote or Not to Vote

Before you get too upset please add this opinion into the discussion. A comment was posted on the internet regarding low voter turnout. The author wrote that he was young and disillusioned. All that he had heard from the various candidates was why he should not vote for the other parties. So he took their advice. He didn’t vote for any of them. He stayed home.

Now as a Christian, although I can sympathize with his plight, I do not agree with his response. If he truly felt that way he still could have shown up and deliberately spoiled his ballot. Some who feel that way state that they have written across their ballot “None of the above.” At least then there would have been a record of his discontent.

[1]“Voter turnout part of worldwide slide, Brock professor says - Citizens in democracies taking right to vote for granted, Siegel says,” Niagara Falls Review, Posted By Corey Laroocque, Oct 15 2008: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1249616