Editorial — Help Vote 50 campaign reach its target

FRIDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — To some, a 50-per-cent turnout in the Kamloops Nov. 15 civic election seems ambitious. To others, it seems way too low.

That’s the modest target an energetic citizens’ committee has set. It’s based largely on the idea that just about anything will be better than the 29-per-cent number in the 2011 election.

The Kamloops Vote 50 campaign, as it’s called, mulled over going for 40 per cent, then decided to go higher and try to pass the halfway mark.

As The Armchair Mayor News has said before, the voter turnout isn’t as big an issue as some make it out to be. Some years have seen 60 per cent. Arguably, though, even that isn’t good enough.

Much depends on whether there’s a mayoralty election. If the post is filled by acclamation, or if the challengers have no name recognition and no serious campaign, the interest will drop and the turnout will be lower.

A heated mayoral contest will bring out the votes and Vote 50 will look like heroes.

Either way, it’s refreshing to see a group of people come together and develop a strategy for increasing the number of voters who go to the polls. Civic government is the government closest to us, the one that affects us every day and does its work just down the street.

What Vote 50 is doing is commendable. Let’s help them succeed.