No, Kamloops Vote 50 was not a failure

EDITORIAL — Nobody seriously expected the voter turnout in Kamloops to reach the 50-per-cent target set by a non-partisan grassroots group of citizens who put heart and soul into trying to convince people to exercise their right to vote this past Saturday.

For weeks, the Vote 50 campaign held events, mixers, forums, issued press releases, ran an informative and engaging website — tried everything it could think of to raise the interest level in the civic election.

Yet, when the polls closed Saturday at 8 p.m. the turnout had been increased by a mere four per cent — 33 per cent compared to just over 29 per cent three years ago. That seems to indicate that Vote 50 failed; that the operation was a success but the patient died.

In Vancouver, for example, the turnout was 44 per cent, the highest in 10 years. Squamish had a 44.5 per cent turnout.

But the B.C. average was 33.3 per cent, putting Kamloops on par. One paper, the Vancouver Province, called it “a significant improvement” from the 29.5 per cent provincial turnout in 2011. Keep in mind there were voter-turnout campaigns similar to Kamloops Vote 50 in many communities in the province.

It would seem, then, it’s all in your perspective. Still, while a four-per-cent improvement is better than nothing, it’s not good enough.

How to fix it? Mandatory voting has already reared its ugly head again. Under that proposal, voters would be fined if they don’t show up at a polling station and cast a ballot. Mandatory voting is fundamentally anti-democratic, would simply result in a bigger but probably less-informed vote, and is the last thing we want use to try to increase turnout.

The answer is patience. In an election year when there was no discernible contest for the mayoralty, hitting the provincial average isn’t so bad. In many communities, incumbent mayors were in the race of their lives, and quite a few lost their seats. That made for higher voter engagement.

Despite the lack of any excitement in the Kamloops mayoral election (as opposed to 2011 when there was an intense campaign that almost toppled incumbent Peter Millobar), the turnout increased.

A sudden, dramatic spike in turnout was never in the cards. Baby steps. Kamloops Vote 50 should not be disheartened. It, and the electorate, learned a lot from their efforts this election year. Next election, the turnout could go up another four per cent, then another four the election after.

Re-engaging the voters simply isn’t a quick-fix proposition, and desperation measures like mandatory voting would do much more harm than good. It’s about staying the course, learning, and progressing gradually.

Vote 50 should be pleased with what it accomplished this year, and stick with it.