ROTHENBURGER – Don’t worry about the turnout, just think first, then vote
(Image: CFJC Today)
FIRST THING MONDAY MORNING, I’m going to get up and drive to my designated polling station. It’s a small polling station; very few people vote there so it likely won’t be crowded.
It will take only a few minutes to check in, mark my ballot and put it in the box. It will, however, take me more than half an hour to drive from home to the station and back.
How much simpler and easier it would be to vote online, to mail in a ballot, or even to vote in advance at one of the other polling places.
It bugs me when people say we have to find easier ways for people to vote because that’s the only way we can increase the turnout. I don’t believe it.
Democracy shouldn’t be run from the comfort of our own homes, it should require at least a minimum of physical activity. If we no longer have the energy to go out to a polling booth to mark a ballot, we’re definitely in trouble.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He writes five commentaries a week for CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
I disagree that one shouldn’t be allowed to vote online. As we know, there have been problems (especially in U.S. elections) with overcrowded polling stations, voting machines that stop working, running out of ballots, and counting errors. This is an impediment to the democratic process. Gore would have won the 2000 election if voting had been done online (no hanging chads here!). There is nothing wrong with making voting more convenient.
The govt certainly has nothing against making tax payments more convenient.
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