Halifax Municipal Elections

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Kind of sad that just a little over 1/3 of eligible voters bothered to participate, especially given that there were online and phone-in options available, but I guess that's where we are...

Likely a combination of the poor quality of candidates, poor campaigns, and the realization that municipal govts do not listen to constituents and do things that voters do not want but spend lots of their money regardless.

[DBaz]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Kind of sad that just a little over 1/3 of eligible voters bothered to participate, especially given that there were online and phone-in options available, but I guess that's where we are...

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Likely a combination of the poor quality of candidates, poor campaigns, and the realization that municipal govts do not listen to constituents and do things that voters do not want but spend lots of their money regardless.

Or possibly a reflection of that many, especially young people, are turned off by the the rancour, whining, and name calling?

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

... Kind of sad that just a little over 1/3 of eligible voters bothered to participate, especially given that there were online and phone-in options available, but I guess that's where we are...

I tried online voting for the first time this year and it was super simple and quick.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by DBaz

Agreed.
Or possibly a reflection of that many, especially young people, are turned off by the the rancour, whining, and name calling?

In my experience few young people have a grasp of what the division of responsibilities of the various levels of govt actually are (not an easy thing to keep straight) and since most are not property owners where the effect of municipal govt is greatest, have less at stake. Except for things like late-night street pizza, I suppose.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Likely a combination of the poor quality of candidates, poor campaigns, and the realization that municipal govts do not listen to constituents and do things that voters do not want but spend lots of their money regardless.

I can’t buy into that narrative, actually. Apathy and inaction never improves any situation. Even if everything was as bad as you say it is (I don’t believe it is), there will always be certain candidates whose values will line up more with your own than others. Or at least some who promise to focus on the issues that you care about.

Voting for nobody accomplishes nothing except confirming that you don’t really care, and are willing to let others make that choice for you. So I can’t buy your argument, sorry. There are no excuses beyond something like you had to go to the hospital on election day, or whatever… and I did not read any stories about 60% of HRM having medical emergencies on election day, so… no excuses.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I can’t buy into that narrative, actually. Apathy and inaction never improves any situation. Even if everything was as bad as you say it is (I don’t believe it is), there will always be certain candidates whose values will line up more with your own than others. Or at least some who promise to focus on the issues that you care about.

Voting for nobody accomplishes nothing except confirming that you don’t really care, and are willing to let others make that choice for you. So I can’t buy your argument, sorry. There are no excuses beyond something like you had to go to the hospital on election day, or whatever… and I did not read any stories about 60% of HRM having medical emergencies on election day, so… no excuses.

Well, if candidates do not enunciate their values or positions on issues, or even mention what they believe the issues to be, how can anyone decide on their voting position? What are voters supposed to do? It is up to candidates for office to market themselves.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Well, if candidates do not enunciate their values or positions on issues, or even mention what they believe the issues to be, how can anyone decide on their voting position? What are voters supposed to do? It is up to candidates for office to market themselves.

There definitely were some candidates who curiously didn’t seem to put themselves out there much, only posting links to their facebook or instagram social media pages, upon which was little to no coherent information. However, some did put together really thoughtful and comprehensive web pages, plus did interviews and public forums, etc. IMHO there was enough out there to help you make a choice, if you thought it was important enough to seek it out.

I honestly think that too many people just don’t care enough to put minimal effort into it. That’s democracy as well, on some level, I suppose. “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”…

[Nouvellecosse]

To some extent it's common for people seem to view municipal politics are being lower stakes and less important than higher levels so they just ignore it and instead focus on the national and provincial stuff. Which is a mistake since things at the municipal level can have a greater and more direct effect on a person's life than the federal or provincial governments. I could partly be that higher level stuff gets so much more news coverage since so many more people have the same government in common.