The Young and the Marginalized

Canadian Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro tweeted last night that only 30% of eligible voters took part in the Federal by-election yesterday. This is an alarming number but instead of saying that something is wrong with voters in Canada maybe politicians should ask themselves how to engage those who are not as likely to vote. The two groups I think they should target is the young vote and the marginalized members of society, specifically the FNMI (First Nations, Metis, Inuit) community. This article in the Winniprg Free Press touches on voter turn out quite nicely (http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/special/democracy-project/only-band-politics-matters-on-reserve-113752239.html?device=mobile).

To not engage people who are less likely to vote is a bad idea. New voters are ready to be painted by a party and to ignore them is irresponsible. Being unengaging to the unengaged is a good way to leave them out of the political spectrum forever, but all is not lost because there is a way to get the young vote and the FNMI vote to start (this is not fool proof and I may be wrong but hey, I'm young).

1. Go to them- Instead of holding debates and information nights that require them to come to you go to where they are. This means engaging them at their homes, community centres and other gathering places.

2. Engage them in meaningful discourse.- This means using your listening ears and actually understanding what would make these voters vote. Better mental health, accessible post-secondary education, better student loans, proper housing solution? Whatever they say is a concern for them note it and use the ones most frequently mentioned in your platform.

3. Make polling accessible and easy. -Not everyone has the type of id needed to vote. Make voting as easy as possible. Besides offering rides to voting sites offer childcare while there to make the parents life easy. This will make going with parents to the polls a fun experience for kids and make them want to engage in voting when they get older.

4. Have debates in schools. -Have debates in schools during school hours. Many teachers would take their students to listen to part of the democratic process. Schools are also opened to the community and so those who work nights or have a day off can come by and listen to the debate as well.

These ideas aren't perfect and I am not saying do all of them at once, but people are less likely to vote if they feel like they are not being heard. Engage in the young and the marginalized and listen to them. If this doesn't change anything be better and things may change. Alienation and blaming the voter cannot be the way to go anymore.